# Laguna Biotherapeutics

Source: https://onco.cc/companies/laguna-biotherapeutics/  
OnCo record `laguna-biotherapeutics` (Company). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Laguna Biotherapeutics uses weakened, engineered bacteria as medicines that switch on unusual immune cells able to attack cancer. Its first product, QUAIL-100, is starting a trial in children and young adults with high-risk leukaemia after a stem cell transplant.

## Summary

Laguna Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a privately funded company headquartered in San Francisco with research labs in Siena, Italy, co-founded by chief executive Jonathan Kotula, chief operating officer Russell Carrington and scientific adviser Dan Portnoy. Its QUAIL platform uses highly attenuated Listeria monocytogenes that cannot grow outside cells, giving drug-like pharmacokinetics, and is designed to activate and expand innate T cells (gamma-delta T cells, MAIT cells and NKT cells) inside the body. A June 2026 PNAS paper described an engineered riboflavin-producing Listeria strain that drives MAIT cell responses and slowed tumour growth in models. The pipeline lists LGNA 100 and 200 for AML and multiple myeloma, and LGNA 200 and 300 for sarcoma and colorectal cancer. Its first registered cancer trial, NCT07573111, a first-in-human single ascending dose study at Palo Alto of QUAIL-100, a live attenuated bacterial therapeutic, in children and young adults with high-risk acute leukaemias or myelodysplastic syndrome after TCR alpha-beta and CD19-depleted stem cell transplantation, was posted on ClinicalTrials.gov in May 2026.

## Fields

- Kind: Company
- Last checked: 2026-10-29
- Also known as: Laguna Bio
- HQ: San Francisco, CA
- Type: biotech
- Website: https://lagunabio.com/

## Notes

- Founding year and financing amounts are not stated on the company website.
- The company homepage lists 'Laguna Announces IND Clearance for First QUAIL Therapeutic' as a headline; the release text was not read.
- Headquarters is from the 'About Laguna' boilerplate in the company's 2025 and June 2026 news posts, read on 29 October 2026.

## Sources

- Official website: https://lagunabio.com/
- PNAS publication news, June 2026: https://lagunabio.com/news/pnas-publication-highlights-therapeutic-potential-of-engineered-listeria
- ClinicalTrials.gov: first-in-human trial of QUAIL-100 after stem cell transplant (NCT07573111): https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07573111

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms (MDS)](https://onco.cc/cancers/mds/), [Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)](https://onco.cc/cancers/sarcoma/)
- fronts: [Immunotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/immunotherapy/)
- technologies: [Engineered bacteria as living cancer drugs](https://onco.cc/technologies/engineered-bacteria-therapy/)

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