About Leonardo

Leonardo Biosystems, Inc. was founded in 2005 to commercialize drug delivery technology developed in the lab of world renowned nanoscientist, Dr. Mauro Ferrari, Professor and Chairman, now serving as President and CEO of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston, Texas and President of The Alliance for Nanohealth. Dr. Ferrari was formerly Chairman of the Department of Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas in Houston.

With deep background in both materials engineering and medicine, Dr. Ferrari and his team of scientists and engineers designed a multi-stage, silicon-based delivery system that overcomes the multiple biological barriers between the infusion of a chemotherapeutic agent and the cancer cell it is designed to kill. The ability to effectively deliver therapeutics by overcoming bio-barriers generates significant benefits for potential new treatments for disease such as siRNA and miRNA, offers new uses for old treatments, and enables the promising field of nanoparticle drug delivery.

Technology

Leonardo's platform system leverages the ability and infrastructure to mold and manipulate silicon at the micro and nanoscales—one of the innovations that propelled the information age. Dr. Ferrari and his group were the first to recognize the compelling value proposition for the use of silicon as a drug delivery agent and have been able to garner a very strong patent position for the critical intellectual property concepts. This patent portfolio has been exclusively licensed to Leonardo Biosystems. [more]

Strategy

Leonardo aims to develop new and innovative therapeutics through collaborations with pharma and biotech partners. The strategy, employed by humanized monoclonal antibody companies, such as Protein Design Labs and Medarex, has been crafted allow Leonardo to contribute to, and benefit from, the success of products developed with partners while minimizing the financial and technical risks associated with clinical drug development. Using this strategy, Leonardo can generate license, milestone and royalty revenues beginning with its first development.