US-based medication technology developer Lyndra has completed a $23m series A round led by venture capital firm Polaris Partners that included care provider Partners Healthcare.
The round also featured VC investment firm Quark Venture and securities firm GF Securities, which are collaborating on a $500m life sciences fund, as well as Yonghua Capital, Healthlink Capital, Suffolk Equity and unnamed additional investors.
Founded in 2015, Lyndra is working on an oral delivery platform for medicines that will enable small molecules and peptides to be released in sustained dosages from a single capsule for seven days or more.
The funding will support further development of Lyndra’s lead product candidate, for which it intends to begin human trials later this year. It also plans to expand its manufacturing facilities.
Amy Schulman, co-founder and CEO of Lyndra, said: “We hope the Lyndra platform will improve how patients feel about taking their medication, and how caregivers administer pills. Making it easier for patients and caregivers, while improving efficacy, shifts the current paradigm of oral delivery and adherence.
“This financing, and the incredible team we have assembled, will enable us to enter into clinical trials in the near term and start making that aspiration a reality.”