WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lyndra Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company working to make daily pills a thing of the past, today announced the appointment of Klas Holmlund, CFA, as Chief Financial Officer. Holmlund brings 18 years of investment and financial leadership experience at publicly traded companies, including experience initiating and executing strategic multi-billion-dollar capital raises supporting sustained company growth, designing and implementing creative financing strategies and building top-performing corporate finance teams.
“We are extremely pleased to have an executive with Klas’s background and experience with biotech capital markets join our executive team,” said Patricia Hurter, PhD, CEO of Lyndra. “His time at Vertex was a period of immense growth for the company, and his financial leadership experience building a corporate treasury function from the ground up and raising capital to fuel rapid growth was instrumental to the company’s success. I’m delighted to welcome him to Lyndra as we rapidly move into our first pivotal trials, advance plans for commercialization, and bring multiple therapies into the clinic.”
Holmlund, an industry-leading global corporate finance executive, was Head of Treasury at Vertex Pharmaceuticals for more than 11 years, building the company’s treasury infrastructure as its market capitalization increased from $7 billion to $52 billion. In that role, Holmlund managed multi-billion-dollar capital, credit and investment projects and supported the domestic and international operations of Vertex, overseeing finances for and serving on the boards of Vertex subsidiaries in more than 20 countries. In addition to his experience managing the corporate treasury function, he brings strong relationships with institutional investors across a broad spectrum of debt and equity capital markets.
“I’m excited to be joining the world-class team at Lyndra,” Holmlund said. “Lyndra has tremendous potential to transform how people take medicine, progressing a pipeline that has a clear value proposition in CNS, leveraging our broadly applicable drug delivery platform that is modular and scalable. I look forward to building a strong corporate finance function to support the company’s bold aspirations and bringing Lyndra’s revolutionary drug delivery technology to the people who need it.”
Holmlund received an MBA from Yale University, an MS in Finance from Boston College and a BA in Economics from Lewis & Clark College. He has previously served on the board of the New England Association for Finance Professionals and is a CFA charterholder.
Lyndra closed a $60.5 million Series C financing round in June and has raised $240 million to date, with additional financing in process. Holmlund’s financial expertise and strong investor relationships will help Lyndra prepare for accelerated growth in 2022, advancing and expanding its clinical programs, forging its commercial strategy and continuing the build-out of its manufacturing capabilities. Lyndra’s lead asset, oral weekly risperidone (LYN-005) for the treatment of people with schizophrenia and bipolar 1 disorder, will begin pivotal trials in 2022 following strong Phase 2 results and a positive End of Phase 2 meeting providing a clear and efficient path to approval. An additional Lyndra asset, oral weekly levomethadone (LYN-014) for the treatment of opioid use disorder, received Fast Track designation from the FDA in July. Oral weekly levomethadone and several other assets will initiate clinical trials in 2022.
About Lyndra Therapeutics
Lyndra Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering ultra-long-acting oral therapies. Whereas most oral medicines struggle to sustain drug release beyond a three- to five-hour window, Lyndra’s oral drug delivery platform is designed to deliver therapeutics in an optimal way, for a week or longer, addressing the scientific and clinical limitations of today’s oral formulations. The resulting therapies promise to radically change the patient and caregiver experience by freeing people from the burden of daily pills and improving their ability to adhere to therapies and manage medical conditions. Lyndra plans to commercialize therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, with lead product candidate weekly risperidone (LYN-005) being developed for the treatment of people living with schizophrenia and bipolar 1 disorder. Additional pipeline assets are being advanced with partners to tackle major public health and global health challenges, with therapies that include a weekly levomethadone candidate for opioid use disorder (OUD), weekly buprenorphine for OUD, a monthly oral contraception pill and biweekly ivermectin for malaria eradication. The company’s partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NIH, AbbVie and Gilead. Lyndra is headquartered in Watertown, MA and has a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility in Lexington, MA. For more information, visit lyndra.com.
