Aurinia to cut research after sale process fails to find a buyer
15 Feb 2024
Drug ApprovalAccelerated Approval
Dive Brief:
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will restructure its operations and give money back to shareholders after failing to find a buyer willing to take over the company.
Investors can expect a buyback of as much as $150 million worth of stock, Aurinia said Thursday. The company is also planning to downsize, resulting in what it expects will be annual savings of as much as $55 million.
Dive Insight:
Aurinia’s actions are the result of a strategic review it began in June last year under pressure from shareholder MKT Capital. While seeking buyers or other alternatives, the company reshuffled its board and reached a cooperation agreement with MKT in September.
During the review, company officials and financial adviser J.P. Morgan “engaged with more than 60 parties,” Aurinia said. But the effort resulted in only one expression of interest that didn’t lead to a formal offer. The company also disclosed that a similar, confidential strategic review in 2018 likewise resulted in only one expression of interest and no formal offer.
Other options — such as licensing assets from other companies — also didn’t bear fruit during the latest review, and the board decided to wrap up and instead narrow the company’s focus to its sole marketed medicine, Lupkynis, for a form of lupus that affects the kidneys. Employees involved in marketing or supporting commercialization of Lupkynis will be spared from layoffs.
Lupkynis in early 2021 became the first oral treatment approved in the U.S. for lupus nephritis. It competes with GSK’s Benlysta, an older injectable lupus medicine that won an expanded approval in late 2020 to treat lupus nephritis. Aurinia said it expects its product to yield revenue of $200 million to $220 million this year.
Even as it switches gears, Aurinia made clear that it’s still open to “any bona fide offers.” The company had about $350 million in cash and equivalents as of Dec. 31.
'
For more details,please visit the original website
The content of the article does not represent any opinions of Synapse and its affiliated companies. If there is any copyright infringement or error, please contact us, and we will deal with it within 24 hours.
Indications
Targets
-Drugs
Hot reports
Get started for free today!
Accelerate Strategic R&D decision making with Synapse, PatSnap’s AI-powered Connected Innovation Intelligence Platform Built for Life Sciences Professionals.
Start your data trial now!
Synapse data is also accessible to external entities via APIs or data packages. Leverages most recent intelligence information, enabling fullest potential.