Funding round led by Sarissa Capital, includes Sun Pharma, Polaris Partners

Sun Pharma acquires exclusive license to market three oral weekly clinical candidates using LYNX^® drug delivery platform in six global markets

Funds will support pivotal program for oral weekly risperidone (LYN-005); data from PK comparability trial (LYN-005-C-301) expected in January

December 21, 2023 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

WATERTOWN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lyndra Therapeutics^®, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the closing of a $101 million Series E financing round. The proceeds of the round, led by Sarissa Capital and including Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited [Reuters: SUN.BO, Bloomberg: SUNP IN, NSE: SUNPHARMA, BSE: 524715], (“Sun Pharma” and includes its subsidiaries and/or associate companies) and Polaris Partners, will support the development of Lyndra’s pipeline, including oral weekly risperidone (LYN-005), which is near completion of a pivotal phase 3 study.

“This investment validates the LYNX platform and moves us forward in our plans to bring our lead product candidate, oral weekly risperidone, through the regulatory pathway and to patients.”

Lyndra’s investigational therapies are enabled by the company’s LYNX^® drug delivery platform, which creates long-acting oral medicines that can be taken once weekly.

“We appreciate the support our investors are providing as we complete our risperidone phase 3 trials and continue the development of our pipeline of oral weekly therapies through this round of financing,” said Jessica Ballinger, Lyndra Therapeutics’ President and CEO. “This investment validates the LYNX platform and moves us forward in our plans to bring our lead product candidate, oral weekly risperidone, through the regulatory pathway and to patients.”

As part of the financing, Sun Pharma will receive an exclusive license to manufacture and market oral weekly risperidone (LYN-005), oral weekly dapagliflozin (LYN-045) and oral weekly aripiprazole (LYN-006) in six countries, including Brazil and India, pending further clinical development of these investigational candidates.

“This investment will provide Lyndra with the resources and leadership to achieve what we know is possible with the LYNX platform: a transformation of the relationship between people and their medicines,” said Amy Schulman, Lyndra Therapeutics co-founder, former CEO and Executive Chair of the Board. “This is an important step toward helping people adhere to their medication regimens and enabling them to better achieve their treatment goals.”

Prior to the development of the LYNX technology, oral pills have been limited to ‘extended release’ formulations, which do not last for more than a day. Lyndra’s LYNX drug delivery platform is enabled by more than 50 patented innovations in design, engineering and materials science to achieve dramatically reduced dosing frequency. The platform originated from the Bob Langer and Gio Traverso Laboratories at MIT, with which Lyndra has an exclusive technology license.

The round follows a $20.3 million Series D financing led by Polaris Partners that was completed in June 2023.

About Lyndra Therapeutics

Lyndra Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering long-acting oral therapies. Lyndra’s LYNX^® drug delivery platform is one of the most significant advances in oral drug delivery in decades, creating medicines that last for a week or longer in an oral dosage form. Based on technology invented in the Bob Langer and Gio Traverso Laboratories at MIT, the LYNX platform has progressed rapidly since 2015 through preclinical and early human studies and achieved proof of concept of the platform and lead asset in a Phase 2 study. Lyndra’s initial focus is on developing therapies in psychiatry, cardiometabolic diseases and other conditions where current approaches to treatment fail to meet patients’ needs and expectations. Lyndra’s lead product candidate, oral weekly risperidone (LYN-005), is being developed for the treatment of people living with schizophrenia and bipolar 1 disorder. Since the founding of Lyndra, the company has received product funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NIH, AbbVie, and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Lyndra is headquartered in Watertown, MA, and has a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility in Lexington, MA. For more information, visit https://lyndra.com.

About Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited

Sun Pharma is the world’s fourth largest specialty generics company with presence in Specialty, Generics and Consumer Healthcare products. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in India and is a leading generic company in the US as well as Global Emerging Markets. Sun’s high growth Global Specialty portfolio spans innovative products in dermatology, ophthalmology and onco-dermatology and accounts for over 16% of company sales. The company’s vertically integrated operations deliver high-quality medicines, trusted by physicians and consumers in over 100 countries. Its manufacturing facilities are spread across six continents. Sun Pharma is proud of its multi-cultural workforce drawn from over 50 nations. For further information, please visit www.sunpharma.com and follow Sun Pharma on “X” @SunPharma_Live.

About Sarissa Capital Management LP

Sarissa Capital Management was founded by Alex Denner, Ph.D., in 2013 to capitalize on compelling opportunities for constructive shareholder activism within the healthcare sector. Sarissa’s team of subject matter experts and philosophy of thoughtful engagement aims to create positive outcomes for investors, shareholders and patients by taking an owner-oriented approach to their investments. Sarissa seeks to optimize healthcare companies so they can efficiently provide important medicines to society and increase the impact of medical innovation, while also generating value to shareholders.

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