Leon Nanodrugs Secures €18.5M Series A Financing to Advance Particle Synthesis Technology for Enhanced Drug Utilization

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on April 30, local time in Germany, the biopharmaceutical company Leon Nanodrugs completed a €18.5 million Series A financing round. The funds from this round will be used to advance research on drug solubilization technologies and to develop oral and parenteral biologics for the treatment of related diseases.

It is reported that this round of financing was led by TVM Capital Life Science, with participation from Signet Healthcare Partners, CD-Venture, and LifeCare Partners. In addition, Leon Nanodrugs has expanded its board of directors. Dr. Stefan Fischer, General Partner and Chief Financial Officer at TVM Capital Life Science; James Gale, Managing Director at Signet Healthcare Partners; and Dr. Gerhard Ries, Executive Partner at LifeCare Partners, will join the board of directors of Leon Nanodrugs.

Leon Nanodrugs, founded in 2011, is a nanotechnology-based drug development company whose core technology is MicroJetRetor (MJR)®.

Medications taken daily are typically in granular or liquid form. After administration via oral ingestion or subcutaneous injection, these drugs are broken down and absorbed in the gastric fluid or bloodstream, thereby aiding in disease treatment. However, due to factors such as poor water solubility, large molecular size, and instability during cellular entry, the bioavailability of certain drugs is only around 50%–60%. This not only results in resource waste but also hinders effective disease management.

Leon Nanodrugs has developed MicroJetRetor (MJR)® technology to address this challenge. MJR is a particle synthesis method designed for the continuous precipitation of nano- and microparticles. This technology processes drugs into small-molecule entities—such as surface-stabilized crystalline nanoparticles, multilayer nanoparticles, core-shell nanoparticles, and nanoemulsions—prior to patient administration. Drugs processed via MJR technology are not only water-soluble but also consist of small-molecule structures that facilitate cellular entry and comprehensive systemic absorption, thereby enhancing therapeutic efficacy.

Currently, in addition to providing drug dissolution technologies to healthcare institutions, Leon Nanodrugs has leveraged MJR technology to develop related pharmaceuticals for the treatment of oral and parenteral diseases, thereby offering patients a diverse range of services.

Hubert Birner, Chairman of the Board of Leon Nanodrugs, stated: “We are grateful for the support from our new round of investors. While oral administration is a common habit for many patients, this approach often fails to deliver efficient therapeutic outcomes. In fact, each pill possesses potent efficacy, but we have not been utilizing it effectively. Pharmaceuticals are not inexpensive; if medication administration is suboptimal, it not only exacerbates the financial burden on patients but also results in resource waste. We aim to optimize drug delivery by breaking down medications into more effective forms, thereby helping every patient achieve efficient medication use and a rapid recovery.”

TVM Capital Life Science, established in 2012, is a venture capital firm focused on investing in the early and late stages of innovative companies. It has offices in Montreal, Canada, and Munich, Germany. The firm’s current investment portfolio spans therapeutic and diagnostic technology platforms, medical technologies, and innovative diagnostics companies, with a geographic focus on Canada, the United States, and Germany.

Signet Healthcare Partners, established in 1998, is a venture capital firm headquartered in New York, USA, primarily investing in the early and late stages of company development, with 15 investments completed to date.

CD-Venture is a venture capital firm headquartered in Germany, focusing on early- and late-stage investments in life sciences startups. It has completed eight investments to date. In addition to providing financial support to innovative enterprises, CD-Venture leverages its extensive market resources to help entrepreneurs expand their market presence.

LifeCare Partners, headquartered in Switzerland, is a private equity investment firm that has completed six investments.

(Compiled by Liu Yujing)