NEWS & NOTES
Dr. Neal M. Davies (left) and Dr. Robert Foster (right) at the 2019 White Coat and Awards ceremony where Dr. Foster was given the Outstanding Pharmacy Alumni award.
Voclosporin
“That’s what voclosporin—now LUPKYNIS—is currently doing. It’s
ALUMNUS’ DISCOVERED DRUG, VOCLOSPORIN, APPROVED BY THE FDA
the first oral medication to be approved by the FDA for the treatment of
BY KALYNA HENNIG
with LUPKYNIS were more than twice as likely to achieve renal
Dr. Robert Foster (BSc Pharm 1982, PharmD 1985, PhD 1988) left
standard measurement used to monitor protein levels in the kidney—
his tenured Associate Professor position at the Faculty of Pharmacy
twice as fast as patients on typical standard of care treatments alone.
and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1993 to pursue drug development and
Early intervention and kidney response are linked to better long-term
incorporate Isotechnika Pharma, where he served as the company’s
outcomes and prevent irreversible kidney damage. Patients treated with
Chairman and CEO until 2014. There, Dr. Foster discovered
LUPKYNIS showed improved response rates in all parameters across
voclosporin, which 28 years later, has been approved by the U.S. Food
immunologically-active classes of LN studied.
and Drug Administration (FDA) as LUPKYNIS to treat patients with active lupus nephritis (LN). LUPKYNIS, commercialized by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., is
lupus nephritis. It is safe, well-tolerated and efficacious.” According to Aurinia, clinical trials showed that patients treated response and experienced a decline in urine protein creatinine ratio—a
“It’s cool looking back at it, because I started the company in a room in my basement,” says Dr. Foster. “That extra room ultimately became my son’s room, who is now 32. So, that just shows you that it’s an
the first FDA-approved oral therapy for LN, which causes irreversible
agonizing process. But Friday, January 22nd was one of the best days of
kidney damage and significantly increases the risk of kidney failure,
my life to hear that it was finally approved.”
cardiac events and death. It is one of the most serious and common
Today, the voclosporin molecule is worth nearly 3 billion Canadian
complications of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus
dollars, and Foster is the CEO of his biotechnology company, Hepion
(SLE).
Pharmaceuticals (Hepion)—based in New Jersey, with research labs in
“The whole purpose of creating a biotechnology company and
Edmonton. Hepion is working on all the early-stage molecules that Dr.
developing drugs is to bring patients that are suffering into remission and
Foster and his team originally discovered and is currently in phase II
to do it as quickly as possible with minimal side effects,” says Dr. Foster.
trials for a nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) indication. THE MORTAR & PESTLE | ualberta.ca/pharmacy
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