Oruka Therapeutics Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

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Oruka Therapeutics, Inc.
Oruka Therapeutics, Inc.

Successful go-public transaction and over $475 million raised this year provides cash runway through multiple clinical inflection points

ORKA-001 non-human primate (NHP) pharmacokinetic and in vitro potency data, presented at EADV in September, further support and derisk the program

Strong execution allowed for acceleration of clinical timelines for both ORKA-001 and ORKA-002, as previously announced

MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (“Oruka”) (Nasdaq: ORKA), a biotechnology company developing novel biologics designed to set a new standard for the treatment of chronic skin diseases including plaque psoriasis, today reported third quarter 2024 financial results and provided a corporate update.

“We had a highly eventful third quarter which included going public, closing on over $475 million in proceeds across two transactions and continuing to progress our very promising co-lead programs,” said Lawrence Klein, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Oruka. “We are excited to soon transition to a clinical stage company and show the potential of our programs to raise the bar on what is possible in psoriatic disease.”

Third Quarter Business and Pipeline Updates

Corporate

  • Oruka consummated its go-public transaction and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ORKA.

  • The Company raised over $475 million, including a $275 million private placement previously announced in April that closed concurrently with the merger and an additional $200 million private placement shortly thereafter from a group of new and existing investors.

ORKA-001: a novel half-life extended IL-23p19 monoclonal antibody

  • Oruka plans to initiate a Phase 1 trial of ORKA-001 in the first quarter of 2025, which was accelerated from the first half of 2025. The Company expects to share interim data from the first-in-human trial in healthy volunteers, including initial pharmacokinetic data, in the second half of 2025 and initial efficacy data in psoriasis patients in the second half of 2026.

  • Data presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress showed that ORKA-001 has a half-life in NHP of more than 30 days, over three times longer than risankizumab and one of the longest NHP half-lives observed for an extended half-life antibody. In addition, the data showed that ORKA-001 binds to a similar epitope as risankizumab and displays similar binding affinity and potency across a variety of in vitro assays.

  • These findings support the potential for ORKA-001 to achieve extended dosing intervals of once every six months or even once a year while maintaining high antibody exposures and further derisk its development path.

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