Press

This press release profiles Dr. Leen Kawas as the executive behind EIT Pharma's lonafarnib program, offering a closer look at her background across drug development, venture investing, and biotech company building alongside the firm's EASL Congress 2026 presentations.

EIT Pharma, led by Dr. Leen Kawas, presented new analyses from the phase 3 D-LIVR trial at EASL Congress 2026 in Barcelona, adding to the evidence base for lonafarnib, currently the only oral therapy in late-stage development for chronic hepatitis D. The full press release covers what was presented, what the data shows, and where the program goes from here.

In this guest post for Life Science Daily News, Leen Kawas argues that biotech's real bottleneck isn't scientific, it's operational. Drawing on patterns she's seen across the industry, she breaks down why strong clinical data alone doesn't create a successful therapy, and what founders and investors need to get right before the data even reads out.

Leen Kawas traces her investment philosophy all the way back to her early days behind a pharmacy counter, and in this Substack post she builds a clear-eyed argument for why patient experience should shape drug development from day one, not just at the clinical trial stage.

Propel Bio Partners just closed a $100 million fund, a milestone that reflects the firm's growing conviction that late-stage biotech assets need more than capital to cross the finish line. Led by Dr. Leen Kawas and Richard Kayne, the Los Angeles-based venture/incubator hybrid pairs funding with hands-on clinical, regulatory, and commercialization support for companies developing therapies in rare disease, infectious disease, and oncology. The full press release details their

Leen Kawas has built her investment philosophy at Propel Bio Partners around a simple premise: most biotech startups don't fail because the science is wrong. They fail because founders underestimate how much operational discipline, hiring strategy, and commercialization planning matter alongside the research. The firm's latest press release breaks down how that founder-first approach is shaping their portfolio strategy across diagnostics, therapeutics, precision medicine, and

Scientific expertise alone no longer defines the best biotech leaders. Kawas makes the case for cross-disciplinary thinking — and her own career from pharmacist to VC is the proof of concept.

Kawas makes the case that female leadership in life sciences isn't a diversity initiative — it's a performance advantage, and the data backs her up.

Scientific breakthroughs that only reach a fraction of patients aren't truly breakthroughs. Kawas built her investment philosophy around a simple conviction: accessibility isn't separate from innovation — it's the measure of it.

Most biotech founders treat advisory boards as a formality. Kawas argues they're one of the most consequential structural decisions a startup can make — and almost always built too late.

Propel Bio Partners is expanding its focus on early-stage healthcare startups across diagnostics, therapeutics, precision medicine, and digital health — built on the belief that great science alone isn't enough, and that founders need operational guidance and strategic support as much as capital.

Propel Bio Partners’ appointment of healthcare veteran Laurie Heilmann as Venture Partner is more than a senior hire. It signals how Leen Kawas is building real infrastructure for the hardest phase in biotech: the leap from validated concept to global commercialization and strategic exit. The piece explains why scale-up and launch experience is rare, how Heilmann’s track record (exits, IPOs, and international operations) strengthens portfolio companies’ positioning for partne

With biotech venture funding far tighter than it was in the 2021 boom, early-stage companies are learning a hard truth: capital alone does not de-risk drug development. Leen Kawas argues that in today’s market, operational expertise, strategic guidance, and high-leverage networks are what keep promising science alive between long funding cycles. Using Propel Bio Partners’ venture partner model, including the appointment of seasoned operator Laurie Heilmann, she lays out why l

Leen Kawas argues that biotech leadership is less about certainty and more about staying steady inside the unknown. For her, motherhood became an unplanned training ground for exactly that: tolerating ambiguity, reading what is not said, thinking in long timelines, and staying purpose-driven through setbacks that do not resolve quickly. She connects the daily realities of raising two young children with the realities of drug development and company building, framing caregivin

Leen Kawas argues that capital is not enough to move biotech from discovery to durable commercial success. At Propel Bio Partners, she is building an investor model that treats strategic expertise, networking, and hands-on operational guidance as core value, not extras. The appointment of healthcare technology veteran Laurie Heilmann as Venture Partner illustrates what that looks like in practice: embedded support on commercialization strategy, market expansion, partnerships,

Leen Kawas believes a therapy that cannot reach the patients who need it is not a true breakthrough. As Managing General Partner at Propel Bio Partners, she evaluates biotech through a third lens beyond novelty and market size: accessibility for underserved populations. This approach shows up in how companies design studies, build diagnostics, and deploy tools that work outside elite healthcare settings, from mail-in microbiome research to faster, lower-infrastructure testing

Propel Bio Partners has named healthcare technology veteran Laurie Heilmann as a Venture Partner, adding a commercialization operator with decades of experience across diagnostics, drug development, and medical devices. Heilmann is known for taking companies from early build to scale, including leading Crown Bioscience through its exit to JSR Life Sciences, plus board and executive roles across the sector. Managing General Partner Leen Kawas says the hire strengthens Propel B

Leen Kawas shares the personal story that pushed her into biotech, from growing up in Amman to building and taking a company public, then shifting into venture as a co-founder of Propel Bio Partners. In this Q&A she talks candidly about early mistakes, what she is building now, and where she thinks AI actually helps life sciences versus where it falls short. She also lays out her framework for deciding when to use AI and when humans must stay in the lead, and ends with a bigg

Most VC in biotech still runs like a transaction: fund the science, take a board seat, check in quarterly. Leen Kawas argues that model is built for software, not drug development. This article breaks down her “ecosystem” approach to investing, why scientists often struggle with the networking side of building a company, and how founders can use advisory boards, conferences, and even non-investing VCs as strategic infrastructure. The takeaway is practical: in biotech, the rig

Most biotech companies hunt for advantage in patents, pipelines, and platforms. Leen Kawas argues one of the biggest differentiators is simpler: who is in the room making decisions. This article lays out the performance case for diverse leadership, why different lived and business experience changes strategy and execution, and how those benefits compound over time, from stronger cultures and retention to better stakeholder trust. It also looks ahead to an AI-heavy future, whe