WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lyndra Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering long-acting oral therapies, today announced the appointment of Kyle B. Haraldsen as Lyndra’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Helene Madonick, J.D., former Deputy General Counsel and Interim Director, Gender Equality Program Strategy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ashish Singh, MBA, Senior Partner and former Healthcare Global Practice Leader at Bain & Company, to Lyndra’s Board of Directors.
“We are pleased to have these three industry-leading executives join the team,” said Dr. Patricia Hurter, CEO of Lyndra Therapeutics. “Kyle brings a depth of experience in all facets of technical operations, strategy, product innovation, supply chain and manufacturing. Helene and Ashish bring broad healthcare experience with deep expertise in strategy, global health and legal matters to our board as we pursue our core purpose to reinvent medicine for a healthier world.”
Haraldsen’s more than 20 years of experience, most recently as CTO of Saniona, spans technical operations, product development, supply chain management, manufacturing and project management. At Saniona, Haraldsen led efforts to develop a complex long-acting multi-product formulation of their lead asset, and he has helped launch numerous nanoparticulate, hormone, peptide and drug-device combination products. At Lyndra, he will be responsible for product and platform R&D activities for the LYNX™ drug delivery platform and manufacturing, including the build-out of the company’s automated continuous manufacturing facility.
The addition of Madonick and Singh to Lyndra’s Board of Directors brings relevant expertise in global healthcare law, strategy and operations to the table. Madonick is a leader in regulatory law and has a long track record of working in the global health arena. Singh, as a Senior Partner with 30 years’ experience at Bain & Company, has worked in multiple industry sectors and geographies, including leading the Global Practice for Bain Healthcare.
“Lyndra’s unique delivery platform can be applied to nearly any medication and therapeutic area, transforming the patient and caregiver experience,” said Amy Schulman, co-founder of Lyndra Therapeutics and executive chair of the company’s Board of Directors. “Helene and Ashish are strong additions to the board bringing experience and perspective that will be invaluable in guiding the company to realize its full potential.”
Madonick began her legal career in Washington, D.C. at Arnold & Porter, where she represented pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies in the US and internationally. In her time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she oversaw legal operations for their international offices, led legal services for the Global Health Division and served as Interim Director for the Gender Equality Program Strategy Team. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute.
Singh is Senior Partner and former Healthcare Global Practice Leader for Bain & Company. In addition to leading the organization's healthcare services work and building their payer-provider practice, Singh has worked in virtually every industry on aspects of strategy, operations and organization. His healthcare advisory work includes three of the five largest US healthcare services companies as well as healthcare-related M&A and portfolio work for several major private equity clients. He served for six years on the firm’s Global Board of Directors.
Lyndra’s LYNX™ Drug Delivery Platform
The 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. A key aspect of the platform is its ability to deliver the drug consistently, minimizing peaks and troughs of drug levels compared to daily medicine. Based on technology invented in the Langer Lab, 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 recently completed Phase 2 study. The LYNX™ drug delivery platform has the potential for broad applicability across multiple therapeutic areas – including approved drugs and those currently in development. The LYNX™ drug delivery platform offers the potential to increase adherence and improve health outcomes, while also freeing people from the burden of daily pills and simplifying their lives.
About Lyndra Therapeutics
Lyndra Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering long-acting oral therapies. Lyndra is focused on commercializing therapies in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, which would benefit from dramatically reduced dosing frequency. 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. The company is also committed to advancing its platform to tackle major public health and global health challenges, with therapies that include oral weekly levomethadone and oral weekly buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, a monthly oral contraception pill and oral biweekly ivermectin for malaria eradication. Since the founding of Lyndra, the company has received 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.
