Bristol Myers Squibb is reportedly courting Canada’s Aurinia Pharmaceuticals to strike a buyout deal.
Rumors of a big pharma acquisition have shot up stock prices for Canada’s Aurinia Pharmaceuticals. Bristol Myers Squibb is reportedly courting the biopharma to strike a buyout deal.
Bristol Myers recently made a run for Acceleron Pharma and its promising Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug but was beat out by Merck in an $11.5 billion deal. Moving on from the heartbreak of a lost bid, the global biopharma may rebound by sweetening its autoimmune portfolio instead.
While both companies are declining to comment, Bloomberg’s unnamed sources say that no final decision has been made and clarify that BMS may pull back from the deal at any time.
Aurinia recently made history with the first oral drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of lupus nephritis, a serious kidney-related progression of systemic lupus erythematosus. This is the first drug to snag U.S. approval for the Canadian company.
The drug, commercialized as Lupkynis, is expected to achieve blockbuster status before the middle of the decade, meaning over $1 billion in annual sales.
Its only competition currently on the market is injectable biologic Benlysta from GlaxoSmithKline. While the two drugs have not had a head-to-head comparison study done, a Lupkynis study showed a 41% complete renal response in 52 weeks versus Benlysta’s response of 30% at the end of 104 weeks.
Benlysta has been approved for other lupus indications since 2011 but added approval for treating LN patients just last December. Currently, Lupkynis is only approved for lupus nephritis but additional formulations for other indications are already in the works.
Aurinia’s pipeline will also bring two more autoimmune hopefuls to BMS, should it go through with the buyout. These pipeline candidates were scooped up in August, just eight months after Lupkynis’ approval.
The first is in pre-clinical development to block the B-cell Activating Factor and A Proliferation-Inducing Ligand to control the pathogenesis of autoimmune and nephrology conditions. This asset was locked in through a $750,000 stock buyout of Thunderbolt Pharma.
Through a $6 million upfront payment, a second candidate was secured with California-based Riptide. An IND submission is anticipated by the end of next year. An M2 macrophage modulator is also in the works, with clinical development expected to start in 2023.
Aurinia’s stock has shot up over 36% in the past five days, thanks to the acquisition rumors. These are record high numbers for the Canadian company. Experts anticipate the price tag for its acquisition in the ballpark of $7-8 billion.
