Innoviva has revealed the next steps for Langer Lab assets it rescued from Lyndra Therapeutics’ collapse, launching Nortiva Bio to develop long-acting oral medicines and pursue drug development alliances.
Lyndra began winding down operations in March 2025 after failing to secure financing for a phase 3 trial. Months later, Innoviva, a biopharma company built on a royalty portfolio, paid $10.2 million to acquire Lyndra’s long-acting drug delivery platform, Lynx. The deal included up to $20 million in milestones, plus royalties on sales of the first approved medicine based on the platform.
Thursday, Innoviva revealed it has created a wholly owned subsidiary, Nortiva, to develop long-acting drugs using the Lynx platform. Robert Langer, the MIT professor whose lab created Lynx, and former FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D., have joined Nortiva’s advisory board.
Lyndra was trying to get a phase 3 safety study of a weekly oral formulation of the schizophrenia drug risperidone off the ground when it folded. But Nortiva has named a monthly oral contraceptive as its lead asset.
The Gates Foundation provided a $5 million grant to support the development of the drug candidate late last year. The nonprofit backed the program to support at-risk women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. Nortiva sees a major unmet need in the U.S. and globally, pointing to a 2012 study that found an estimated 50% of women miss doses at least once per month to make its case.
Nortiva also plans to build a pipeline of partnered programs based on Lynx. The company is pitching the platform to businesses interested in creating long-acting oral versions of approved or development-stage small molecules. Reducing dose frequency could ease burdens on patients and differentiate products in competitive markets.
The company has enlisted dealmakers to its advisory board. Kallyope CEO Jay Galeota, who previously worked as chief strategy and business development officer at Merck & Co., sits on the board alongside Sophie Kornowski, the former global head of Roche partnering. Scott Braunstein, M.D., operating partner at Aisling Capital, and Lyndra cofounder Giovanni Traverso, M.D., Ph.D., complete the six-person board.
Nortiva’s creation offers a second chance for a once-hyped oral drug delivery technology. Lyndra raised $55 million from backers, including Gilead, in 2019, and tapped investors, including Sun Pharma, for $101 million in 2023. The company used the funding to deliver a phase 3 win for its risperidone formulation in 2024, but was unable to secure money to run the safety study that stood between it and approval filings.