A biologic, inebilizumab, in Phase II for the treatment of an autoimmune disease, neuromyelitis optica, is the lead compound for a new stand-alone company, Viela Bio, spun-out of AstraZeneca PLC's biologics arm, MedImmune LLC, with financing from a group of Chineseprivate equity funds. The new company is helmed by CEO Bing Yao, previously head of MedImmune's respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity (RIA) innovative medicines unit.
"Auto-immune diseases are a group of around 80 disorders, the majority of which have no specific therapies, and they represent a therapeutic area of high unmet need," Bing explained to Scrip