Valanbio Therapeutics Inc

Valanbio Therapeutics is a Durham/Raleigh, North Carolina-based early-stage anti-infectives biotech company spun out of Duke University. The company is developing novel LpxC inhibitor antibiotics targeting Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, including strains responsible for ventilator-associated pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Their lead candidate, LPC-233, is a slow, tight-binding picomolar LpxC inhibitor that disrupts bacterial outer membrane biosynthesis, offering a new mechanism of action against drug-resistant Gram-negative organisms. Co-founders Pei Zhou and Edward Toone licensed the technology from Duke University. The company has received NIH SBIR funding including a Phase II award for IND-enabling studies.