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Aurinia Names Greenleaf as Chief Executive Officer and Board Director
12 April 2019 - - Canada-based biopharmaceutical company Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUPH) (TSX: AUP) has appointed Peter Greenleaf as chief executive officer and as a director on the Aurinia board, the company said.

The company also announced the elevation of George M. Milne, Jr., Ph.D. to chairman of the board of directors.

Dr. Richard M. Glickman, who previously announced his plans to retire on November 6, 2018, will step down from his role as chairman and CEO concurrent with Greenleaf's appointment on April 29, 2019, and will remain an advisor to the company for a period of 12 months.

With more than twenty years of experience leading pharmaceutical and biotech firms, Greenleaf most recently served as the CEO of Cerecor, a leading US pediatric orphan and rare disease pharmaceutical company.

Prior to that, Greenleaf was the chairman and CEO of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals which he led through the successful sale to Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, PLC for USD 1.2bn.

Previously, Greenleaf served as the CEO and Board member of Histogenics, a regenerative medicine company.

Prior to that he was the president of MedImmune, Inc, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, and president of MedImmune Ventures, a wholly owned venture capital fund within the AstraZeneca Group, where he led investment in emerging biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic companies.

Peter Greenleaf previously served as CEO of Cerecor, Inc., since March 2018.

Prior to that he served as chairman and CEO of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from March 2014 to February 2018, when Sucampo was sold to Mallinckrodt PLC.

Previously, Greenleaf served as CEO of Histogenics Corp. from June 2013 to March 2014, as president of MedImmune, Inc., and MedImmune Ventures from 2010 to June 2013, and senior vice president, Commercial Operations of MedImmune from 2006 to 2010.

Greenleaf also held senior commercial roles at Centocor Biotech, Inc. (now Janssen biotechnology, Johnson and Johnson), from 1998 to 2006, and at Boehringer Mannheim G.m.b.H. (now Roche Holdings) from 1996 to 1998.

Greenleaf is a member of the board of directors of Cerecor since May 2017, is the chairman of the board of Bio-delivery Sciences since May 2018, EyeGate Pharmaceuticals since August 2018, and Antares Pharma since December 2018.

Greenleaf chairs the Maryland Venture Fund Authority, and previously served on the boards of BIO, PhARMA, the Tech Council of Maryland and the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc. Greenleaf earned an MBA degree from St. Joseph's University and a BS degree from Western Connecticut State University.

Milne was appointed to the Aurinia board of directors in May 2017 and serves as chair of the company's Governance and Nomination Committee.

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.

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 research and development.

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 Pharmaceuticals is a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies to treat targeted patient populations that are impacted by serious diseases with a high unmet medical need.

The company is currently developing voclosporin, an investigational drug, for the potential treatment of LN, Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, and DES. The company is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia and focuses its development efforts globally.

Voclosporin, an investigational drug, is a novel and potentially best-in-class calcineurin inhibitor with clinical data in over 2,400 patients across indications. Voclosporin is an immunosuppressant, with a synergistic and dual mechanism of action.

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 and until April 2028 with anticipated pediatric extension.

Further, the new Notice of Allowance is expected to result in the issuance of a US patent with a term extending to December 2037.

If the FDA approves the use of voclosporin for LN and the label for such use follows the dosing protocol under the Notice of Allowance, the issuance of this patent will expand the scope of intellectual property protection for voclosporin to December 2037.
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