Theravance, Inc. (THRX)

Theravance was a biopharmaceutical company that used its multivalent drug design approach to develop small-molecule medicines, most importantly for respiratory diseases. Its biggest asset was a broad partnership with GlaxoSmithKline on long-acting inhaled bronchodilators for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Products from that work include Breo Ellipta, Anoro Ellipta, and later Trelegy Ellipta. The company was located in South San Francisco.

The company was founded in 1996 as Advanced Medicine, Inc., and it later took the Theravance name. It went public on Nasdaq in 2004 under THRX. GSK became a major shareholder through its 2002 and 2004 collaboration agreements. Theravance also developed the antibiotic Vibativ (telavancin), which won FDA approval in 2009.

In 2013 the FDA approved Breo Ellipta and Anoro Ellipta, and Theravance began earning royalties from GSK. In June 2014 it spun off its drug discovery and development business as Theravance Biopharma, which listed on Nasdaq as TBPH. The remaining company kept the GSK royalty streams and the THRX symbol.

To mark its new role as a royalty company, Theravance renamed itself Innoviva, Inc. in January 2016. The Nasdaq ticker changed from THRX to INVA effective January 11, 2016, and the shareholder base and listing stayed the same. Innoviva has since added stakes in other healthcare companies and acquired critical-care and infectious-disease products.