Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the global immunology market, announced top–line results from its Phase IIb AURA–LV (AURA) study in lupus nephritis (LN). At 48 weeks, the trial met the complete and partial remission (“CR”/ “PR”) endpoints, demonstrating statistically significantly greater CR and PR in patients in both low dose (23.7mg of voclosporin twice daily (p<.001)) and high dose (39.5mg twice daily (p=.026)) cohorts versus the control group.

Each arm of the study included the current standard of care of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as background therapy and a forced steroid taper to 5mg/day by week 8 and 2.5mg by week 16. No unexpected safety signals were observed and there were no additional deaths in the voclosporin treated patients; however, there were three deaths and one malignancy reported in the control arm after completion of the study treatment period. Additional data analyses for the AURA study at 48 weeks will be released at future corporate, medical and scientific meetings.

“Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe complications of systemic lupus erythematosus. The current treatments of LN are toxic and the complete renal response rates are unacceptably low. For the last several years the community of lupus researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry have been engaged in finding more effective therapies for LN, but success has been difficult to achieve,” said Brad Rovin, MD, FASN, Director of Nephrology and Vice Chairman of Research for the Department of Internal Medicine at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “The AURA trial’s long–term results convincingly demonstrate that the addition of voclosporin to standard of care treatment is superior to standard of care alone. These data are not only statistically significant, but clinically important. Twice as many patients given 23.7mg voclosporin twice daily achieved a complete renal response compared to those treated with placebo. This is an impressive renal response rate and these results may shift the treatment paradigm of LN. Based on these encouraging data, I am looking forward to the Phase III trial of voclosporin in LN.”

Voclosporin, an investigational drug, is a novel and potentially best–in–class calcineurin inhibitor (“CNI”) with clinical 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. It is made by a modification of a single amino acid of the cyclosporine molecule which has shown a more predictable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationship, an increase in potency, an altered metabolic profile, and potential for flat dosing. The Company 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.