RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Lindy Biosciences, a biotech company developing innovative drug formulation technology that was bootstrapped by a loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, has now completed a $1.6M Series A round.
Lindy will use the new funding to continue to develop and scale its microglassification dehydration process to produce high-dosage, lower-volume medicines.
NCBiotech awarded Lindy a $200,000 Small Business Research Loan soon after the company was founded. “The Center’s loan was really helpful two years ago before we had funding,” said Deborah Bitterfield, CEO. “It makes a huge difference to a startup.”
Lindy CEO Deborah Bitterfield. Lindy Biosciences photo)
Lindy wants to develop its technology to enable a significant number of antibody therapies to be delivered at home via a self-applied injection rather than in an acute-care setting using slow intravenous (IV) infusions. Doing so will decrease administration costs, increase patient comfort and compliance, and enable new high-dose molecules to reach the market.
By reformulating some drugs only available via time-consuming IV into a single injection that patients can administer themselves is “a huge quality-of-life improvement taking seconds at home versus sitting with an IV in your arm for a few hours,” Bitterfield noted in an interview with NCBiotech.
The only cost is for the device, she added, and doesn’t require the aid of health care professionals in a hospital setting.
Microglassification is a proprietary process that gently removes a majority of the water from solutions of proteins, or other biologics, resulting in solid, spherical, amorphous microbeads. In this dry state, biologics are often stable enough for long-term storage, transport, or incorporation into drug delivery formulations.
Microscopically enlarged photo of Lindy Bio’s microglassification particles. (Lindy Bio photo)
“In the last year, we’ve made great strides in developing highly concentrated suspensions of biologics and have formed a number of relationships with top pharmaceutical companies with extensive biologics pipelines,” said Bitterfield. “We’re delighted to have the support of this exceptional group of investors that provides us not only capital, but also vast strategic experience in our market.”
The financing was led by Alumshares and BlueTree Allied Angels with participation by IAG Capital Partners, the Charleston Angel Conference, and Next Act Fund. The company said announced Omar Flores, Ph.D., of Alumshares, and Sreekar Gadde of BlueTree Allied Angels, will join Lindy’s board of directors.
Founded in 2017, Lindy’s initial technology was licensed from Duke University and further developed at innovation lab Southeast TechInventures with more than $800,000 in small business innovation research (SBIR) grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
The company now has six employees. An intern, provided through a Biotech Center program, is starting this summer.
Lindy has a space in the 400 Building at the Frontier in Research Triangle Park that it moved into in Janurary.
“We are working with several pharmaceutical companies now,” Bitterfield said.“IIt will be a number of years before a drug using the technology is in the market, but we are a few steps closer to helping patients with chronic conditions regain control of their lives.
(C) N.C. Biotech Center
