Pharma Industry Veteran Dr. George Milne Joins Aurinia’s Board of Directors
May 09 2017 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH / TSX:AUP) (“Aurinia”
or the “Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company
focused on the global immunology market, today announced the
appointment of George M. Milne, Jr., Ph.D. to its board of
directors. Prior to his retirement, Dr. Milne served as Executive
Vice President of Global Research and Development and President of
Worldwide Strategic and Operations Management at Pfizer. Dr. Milne
serves on multiple corporate boards including Charles River
Laboratories where he is the lead director and Amylyx
Pharmaceuticals and is Venture Partner at Radius Ventures.
“George has made significant contributions to the pharmaceutical
sector during his successful career. His experience in the board
room will prove extremely valuable as we approach the next crucial
stage of development as a company working to advance voclosporin to
market while exploring potential additional indications for the
compound,” said Richard M. Glickman, Chief Executive Officer of
Aurinia.
Dr. Milne has over 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical
research and product development. He joined Pfizer in 1970 and held
a variety of positions conducting both chemistry and pharmacology
research. Dr. Milne became director of the department of immunology
and infectious diseases at Pfizer in 1981, was its executive
director from 1984 to 1985, and was vice president of research and
development from 1985 to 1988. He was appointed senior vice
president in 1988. In 1993 he was appointed President of Pfizer
Central Research and a senior vice president of Pfizer with global
responsibility for human and veterinary medicine R&D. Dr. Milne
has served on multiple corporate boards including Mettler-Toledo,
Inc., MedImmune, Athersys, Biostorage Technologies, Aspreva, and
Conor Medsystems. Dr. Milne received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from
Yale University and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from MIT.
"Aurinia has demonstrated its leadership in advancing a viable
treatment option for patients suffering from lupus nephritis,”
added George Milne. “I look forward to working alongside this
exceptional team and sharing my expertise as we pursue a successful
future for the company.”
Additionally, the company announced that Dr. Greg Ayers has
resigned from Aurinia’s board of directors, effective immediately.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I thank Greg for his service
and contributions and wish him well in future endeavors," added Dr.
Glickman.
About Voclosporin
Voclosporin, an investigational drug, is a novel and potentially
best-in-class calcineurin inhibitor (“CNI”) with clinical trial
data in over 2,200 patients across indications. Voclosporin is an
immunosuppressant, with a synergistic and dual mechanism of action
that has the potential to improve near- and long-term outcomes in
LN when added to standard of care (MMF). By inhibiting calcineurin,
voclosporin blocks IL-2 expression and T-cell mediated immune
responses. Voclosporin is made by a modification of a single amino
acid of the cyclosporine molecule which results in a more
predictable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationship with
potential for flat dosing. In addition, Voclosporin is more potent
than and has an improved metabolic profile versus cyclosporine.
Aurinia anticipates that upon regulatory approval, patent
protection for voclosporin will be extended in the United States
and certain other major markets, including Europe and Japan, until
at least October 2027 under the Hatch-Waxman Act and comparable
laws in other countries.
About Lupus Nephritis (LN)
LN, an inflammation of the kidney caused by Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus (“SLE”), represents a serious progression of SLE. SLE
is a chronic, complex and often disabling disorder that affects
more than 500,000 people in the United States (mostly women). The
disease is highly heterogeneous, affecting a wide range of organs
& tissue systems. It is estimated that as many as 60% of all
SLE patients have clinical LN requiring treatment. Unlike SLE, LN
has a strong surrogate marker, proteinuria, which correlates with
meaningful longer term clinical outcome. In patients with LN, renal
damage results in proteinuria and/or hematuria and a decrease in
renal function as evidenced by reduced estimated glomerular
filtration rate (eGFR), and increased serum creatinine levels. LN
is debilitating and costly and if poorly controlled, LN can lead to
permanent and irreversible tissue damage within the kidney,
resulting in end-stage renal disease (ESRD), thus making LN a
serious and potentially life-threatening condition.
About Aurinia
Aurinia is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on
developing and commercializing therapies to treat targeted patient
populations that are suffering from serious diseases with a high
unmet medical need. Aurinia is currently developing voclosporin, an
investigational drug, for the treatment of LN. Aurinia is
headquartered in Victoria, BC and focuses its development efforts
globally. www.auriniapharma.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including statements related to Aurinia’s plans to advance
voclosporin to market and explore additional indications for the
compound, Dr. Milne’s expected impact on Aurinia’s progress, the
belief that voclosporin is a potentially best-in-class CNI and a
viable treatment option for patients suffering from LN with
potential to improve near- and long-term outcomes in LN, and the
belief that upon regulatory approval, patent protection for
voclosporin will be extended in the United States and certain other
major markets, including Europe and Japan, until at least October
2027. It is possible that such results or conclusions may change
based on further analyses of these data. Words such as "plans,"
"intends," “may,” "will," "believe," and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based upon Aurinia’s current
expectations. Forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties. Aurinia’s actual results and the timing of events
could differ materially from those anticipated in such
forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and
uncertainties, which include, without limitation, the risk that
Aurinia’s analyses, assessment and conclusions of the results of
its clinical studies may change based on further analyses, the risk
that Aurinia will not successfully complete its clinical programs
and the risk that Aurinia’s clinical studies for voclosporin may
not lead to regulatory approval. These and other risk factors are
discussed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Aurinia’s Annual
Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016 filed with
Canadian securities authorities and available at www.sedar.com and
on Form 40-F with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and
available at www.sec.gov, each as updated by subsequent filings,
including filings on Form 6-K. Aurinia expressly disclaims any
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to
reflect any change in Aurinia's expectations with regard thereto or
any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such
statements are based, except as required by law.
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Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc.Investors & Media:Celia
EconomidesHead of IR &
Communicationsceconomides@auriniapharma.com