The company is taking candidates acquired from Shire to the clinic.

Maralixibat and volixibat are two drug candidates that target the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) and are being developed for the treatment of liver diseases. They were initially leaders in the drug portfolio of Lumena Pharmaceuticals (LUM001 and LUM002, respectively). Lumena was acquired by Shire in 2014 for over $260 million, in part to gain access to these two candidates.

However, Shire is now part of Takeda, and Takeda sold these candidates to Mirum Pharmaceuticals for a just $7.5 million. The executive chairman of Mirum is Mike Grey, who was CEO of Lumena when it was acquired by Shire.

Mirum, which was launched in November 2018, is now ready to take these two candidates to clinical trials. The company initially raised $120 million in Series A funding, of which it has spent just over $23 million. Even so, Grey is taking Mirum into an IPO with the goal of raising a further $86 million. The cash will be used to fund clinical work for maralixibat and volixibat.