Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has bought two new pipeline assets to boost its rare autoimmune and kidney-related disease portfolio.
These pipeline assets are AUR200 and AUR300
Aurinia paid an upfront $750,000 to stakeholders of private firm Thunderbolt Pharma for the acquisition.
Aurinia secured rights to AUR200 by buying all the common stock of Thunderbolt Pharma, a private firm.
AUR 200 is a recombinant Fc protein that can potentially hinder BAFF and APRIL, which induce B cell survival and differentiation and have an important role in the pathogenesis of certain autoimmune and nephrology aliments.
Aurinia will also be responsible for overseing the regulatory milestones on investigational new drug (IND) acceptance by the USFDA or any other regulatory authority in the future.
Shareholders of Thunderbolt are also eligible to receive low single-digit royalty payments on net product sales in the future.
Currently, AUR200 is in the pre-clinical development stage, with IND submission to the FDA expected by the end of 2022.
A novel peptide therapeutic, AUR300 was bought as part of an international licensing and research agreement with Riptide Bioscience for $6m.
Anticipated to enter the clinic in the first half of 2023, AUR300 modulates a type of white blood cells, known as M2 macrophages through CD206, the macrophage mannose receptor.
M2 macrophage dysregulation causes fibrosis.
Aurinia noted that these properties of the therapeutic could have substantial clinical applications for autoimmune and fibrotic diseases.
Riptide can receive further payments based on particular development, clinical and regulatory milestones and royalties on marketing the product.
Aurinia Research executive vice-president Rob Huizinga said: “Both of these programmes are rooted in strong science and at the leading edge of approaches for the treatment of autoimmune, fibrotic, and kidney diseases.
“Significant research has been done to date in both BAFF/APRIL inhibition and macrophage modulation and we are confident both of these approaches offer high potential across multiple autoimmune diseases as we advance them into the clinic.”