What Leucid Bio does

Leucid Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, UK, that develops next-generation CAR-T cell therapies using its proprietary Lateral CAR platform. The platform reconfigures the CAR molecule so that signalling domains are arranged in parallel across the T-cell membrane, mimicking the lateral architecture of endogenous immune receptors. Its lead clinical asset, LEU011, is an autologous lateral CAR-T therapy that targets NKG2D stress ligands (expressed on more than 80% of human tumour cells) and co-expresses the chemokine receptor CXCR2 to enhance tumour infiltration. LEU011 is being evaluated in the Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial for adults with relapsed/refractory solid tumours, including colorectal, pancreatic, mesothelioma, ovarian and breast cancer indications. The asset received an MHRA Innovation Passport in 2022 and Clinical Trial Authorisation in 2023, with the first patient dosed in May 2025 and preliminary proof-of-concept data presented at the SITC 2025 Annual Meeting.

The company is pre-revenue and operates a development-stage business model reliant on equity financing and partnership-driven manufacturing. To date Leucid Bio has raised approximately £18.7 million across two Series A tranches (£11.5M in October 2021 led by Epidarex and Vulpes, and a £7.2M Series A1 first close in February 2025 co-led by Epidarex and 2Invest AG). Clinical manufacturing is conducted via a master services agreement with Great Ormond Street Hospital's Zayed Centre for Research — the first CAR-T for solid tumours manufactured at GOSH — and through a strategic collaboration with Lonza covering its automated Cocoon Platform from clinical through commercial stages. Distribution today is limited to investigator-sponsored clinical trial sites; commercial product sales would follow regulatory approval. The science base is anchored by exclusive option rights to King's College London's broader CAR-T portfolio, built on 20+ years of research led by CSO and founder Dr John Maher.

Name

Leucid Bio

Legal name

Leucid Bio Ltd

Website

http://www.leucid.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Leucid Bio is a London-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing Lateral CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumours, with lead asset LEU011 — an NKG2D-targeting, CXCR2-co-expressing autologous therapy — currently in a Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

CAR-T Cell Therapy for Solid Tumours

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Therapy Developers (Allogeneic/Off-the-shelf) (HLAAABAB)

Keywords

• CAR-T cell therapy
• Cell therapy platform
• Cancer immunotherapy
• Autologous cell therapy
• Clinical-stage biotechnology

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. CAR-T Therapy Development and Commercialization: As a clinical-stage biotechnology company, Leucid Bio's primary revenue model is developing and commercializing proprietary CAR-T cell therapies. The company is advancing LEU011 through clinical trials with the goal of regulatory approval and commercial launch. Revenue would come from product sales upon approval.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Leucid Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation autologous CAR-T cell therapies using its proprietary Lateral CAR platform. Its lead product, LEU011, is a lateral CAR-T therapy targeting NKG2D stress ligands (co-expressing CXCR2 to enhance tumour infiltration), currently being evaluated in the Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial in adults with relapsed/refractory solid tumours. The company intends to commercialise LEU011 and additional pipeline assets following regulatory approval, with manufacturing delivered through GOSH and Lonza's Cocoon Platform.

Product overview

Leucid Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation CAR-T cell therapies using its proprietary Lateral CAR Platform. The company's core product is LEU011, a lateral CAR-T therapy targeting NKG2D stress ligands, which is the lead asset in the Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial for solid tumours. The Lateral CAR Platform technology enables CAR-T cells to adopt a natural lateral membrane configuration, differentiating it from traditional linear CAR architectures and providing enhanced T-cell potency, improved tumour targeting, and reduced toxicity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LEU011 LEU011 is Leucid Bio's lead product candidate: an autologous lateral CAR-T cell therapy that targets NKG2D stress ligands (expressed on more than 80% of human tumour cells) and co-expresses the CXCR2 chemokine receptor to enhance tumour trafficking and infiltration. It is intended for the treatment of adults with relapsed/refractory solid tumours and is being evaluated in the Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06193902).

Quantifiable outcome

• Prolonged disease-free survival demonstrated in preclinical studies comparing LEU011 to other CAR T-cell products
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SyenexcoreTechnology or Integration · 15 December 2025Strategic collaboration to develop in vivo delivery of Leucid's CAR-T cell therapies using Syenex's VivoCell Platform. The partnership aims to enable precise in vivo delivery of LEU011, moving toward a simpler, potentially off-the-shelf administration route. Collaboration supports the ongoing Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial and aims to advance from proof-of-concept to IND-enabling studies.
• Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 March 2023Manufacturing master services agreement with GOSH NHS Foundation Trust for manufacture of LEU011 at the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children. LEU011 is the first CAR-T candidate for solid tumours to be manufactured at GOSH. GOSH provides GMP production facilities and quality assurance services.
• LonzacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 December 2021Strategic collaboration to utilize Lonza's Cocoon Platform for automated manufacturing of Leucid's CAR-T therapies. The partnership covers Phase I/II clinical studies through to commercial manufacturing, enabling decentralized manufacturing model for point-of-care delivery.
• King's College LondoncoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2014Founding partner relationship based on 20+ years of CAR-T research led by Dr John Maher. Leucid holds exclusive option rights to King's College London's broad portfolio of CAR-T assets. The company benefits from access to deep scientific, clinical and manufacturing expertise of John Maher and his academic team.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CRISPR Therapeutics: Pioneer in gene-edited allogeneic CAR-T therapies with approved Casgevy. Comparable as a leading engineered T-cell therapy developer with novel receptor/genome editing approaches similar in spirit to Leucid's architectural innovation.
• Cellectis: Clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T developer using proprietary TALEN gene editing. Comparable engineered T-cell therapy developer with novel receptor design and genome engineering focus.
• Iovance Biotherapeutics: Commercial-stage cell therapy company marketing TIL therapies (lifileucel) for solid tumours. Comparable in patient-by-patient autologous cell therapy manufacturing model and solid tumour focus, with a leading commercial benchmark for the modality.
• Allogene Therapeutics: Allogeneic CAR-T developer with multiple clinical programs in oncology. Comparable as a next-generation engineered T-cell therapy developer, although Leucid is autologous while Allogene pursues an off-the-shelf model.
• Adicet Bio: Clinical-stage developer of gamma delta T-cell therapies for cancer, including off-the-shelf CAR-T approaches. Comparable as an engineered immune cell therapy developer targeting solid and haematologic malignancies.
• Celyad Oncology: Clinical-stage CAR-T developer focused on solid and haematologic malignancies. Leucid's CEO Filippo Petti was previously CEO of Celyad, and both companies target solid tumours with engineered T-cell platforms, making them directly comparable in indication, modality, and stage.
• Caribou Biosciences: Clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T developer using CRISPR-based gene editing. Comparable next-generation engineered T-cell therapy developer focused on oncology with platform-based pipeline approach.
• Fate Therapeutics: Developer of iPSC-derived NK and T-cell therapies for cancer. Comparable as a cell therapy developer pursuing off-the-shelf manufactured engineered immune cells for oncology indications.
• Adaptimmune Therapeutics: Developer of engineered TCR-based cell therapies for solid tumours, including approved Tecelra. Directly comparable to Leucid as a cell therapy developer tackling the same solid tumour efficacy challenge with a novel engineered receptor architecture.

Emerging players

• Century Therapeutics: Early clinical-stage developer of iPSC-derived allogeneic cell therapies including CAR-T and NK cells. Comparable platform-based engineered cell therapy approach, though at an earlier stage and with iPSC rather than autologous manufacturing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leucid Bio