Collaboration brings DFU and Inflammatory Disease Therapy to Greater China Region

Aurealis Therapeutics, (Basel, Switzerland) and AI-based microbiome drug development company Xbiome have entered into an agreement for the clinical development and commercialisation of Aurealis’ investigational Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) and other chronic wounds and inflammatory disease therapy in the Greater China territory. The agreement covers rights for all human use of the DFU drug candidate AUP-1 in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and places responsibility for all clinical and other development, regulatory submissions and commercialisation of the licensed products in the licensed territory with Shenzen-based Xbiome.

Shanghai-based Lynx Financial served as Aurealis’ exclusive financial advisor in this transaction, which will see the European company receive upfront payment, milestone payments and royalties on product sales, which could amount to in excess of $139 million going forward.

Aurealis CEO  Juha Yrjänheikki said: “We are extremely happy to partner with Xbiome. We are impressed of their expertise, agility in execution and commitment to the treatment of diabetes-related diseases and introducing AI microbiome-based treatment methods and drugs into the China market and beyond, of which AUP-16 will be a great example. We believe that this partnership will accelerate the development of AUP-16 as a potential new therapy for DFU and other chronic wound patients.” said Juha Yrjänheikki, Aurealis CEO.

“DFUs and other chronic wounds not only cause great pain, but also enormous costs to the society. We are very excited to collaborate with Xbiome and work together to develop a unique cure for these conditions with rapidly growing prevalence in China and globally. We are honoured to embark on this journey together with our colleagues at Xbiome,” continued Roger Meier, Aurealis Chairman of the Board.

Adding that the synthetic biology company’s cell and gene therapy technology made a perfect fit with its microbiome-based drug development platform, Yan Tan, founder and CEO of Xbiome said: “ Aurealis is one of the most innovative biotech companies we came across; most importantly we share the same vision and passion. We are extremely excited to collaborate with Aurealis to accelerate the development of AUP-16 in China and all over the world. It is just the beginning of a long-term partnership of two companies, we are thrilled to embark on this journey and explore more possibilities in the future.”

Donald Xu, Managing Partner of Lynx Financial added: “We are witnessing here two young and rising companies join forces to develop a first- and best-in-class therapy for these debilitating chronic wound indications. This synergistic collaboration between a Chinese and a European company truly underscores the global trend in innovation and development within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.”

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