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Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUPH) ("Aurinia" or the "Company") today announced voting results for its annual general meeting (the "Meeting") of shareholders held on May 17, 2023.
Shareholders re-elected six of eight incumbent directors to the Board of Directors (the "Board"). Two directors, George Milne and Joseph ("Jay") Hagan, while elected under applicable corporate law, received less than majority support and have submitted their resignations for consideration by the Board, pursuant to the Company's Majority Voting Policy. In accordance with the policy, the Board intends to act expeditiously in respect to the submitted resignations to ensure an orderly transition.
In addition, the Company's re-appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP as its independent registered public accounting firm received majority support, while the proposed amendment to the equity incentive plan was not approved. The existing equity incentive plan continues unaffected, without amendment. The non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation did not receive majority support.
"We respect the outcome of this year's vote and the opinions of all of our shareholders. We recognize there is significant work ahead of us. We look forward to continuing our dialog with investors and building shareholder value, in the best interests of the Company," said Hector MacKay-Dunn, Chair of Aurinia's Governance & Nomination Committee.
"We acknowledge investor concerns regarding our executive compensation. We have had extensive outreach and discussions about our executive renumeration program in recent years. While we have made changes to reflect their feedback, such as adopting a share ownership policy for our directors and executives, instituting a claw back policy for our executives, and incorporating detailed performance-based metrics, we will continue to evolve our program and will share any action steps taken in response to shareholder input", MacKay-Dunn concluded.
Peter Greenleaf, Director, President and CEO, stated, "We remain focused on executing on our strategy and building on Aurinia's significant momentum. We appreciate George and Jay's contributions in positioning us for our next stage of growth, and we look forward to working with our shareholders and other stakeholders to advance Aurinia's mission of transforming people's lives by delivering therapeutics that change the course of rare, autoimmune and kidney related diseases."
Voting results on all matters voted on at the Meeting will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.edgar.com .
About Aurinia
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering therapies to treat targeted patient populations with a high unmet medical need that are impacted by autoimmune, kidney and rare diseases. In January 2021, the Company introduced LUPKYNIS® (voclosporin), the first FDA-approved oral therapy dedicated to the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis. The Company's head office is in Edmonton, Alberta, its U.S. commercial office is in Rockville, Maryland. The Company focuses its development efforts globally.
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Investor/Media Contact:
Aurinia@westwicke.com
