TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 19, 2014) - Difference Capital Financial Inc. ("DCF") (TSX:DCF)(TSX:DCF.DB), a leading specialty financial services company, is pleased to announce that it has participated in a private placement financing of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Aurinia" or the "Company"). Aurinia is a Canadian company in the life sciences industry focused on the development of voclosporin, a candidate medicine for the treatment of lupus nephritis and other autoimmune diseases. Lupus nephritis, the Company's leading indication, is a life-threatening kidney disease for which there is no effective therapy available at present.

The US$52 million private placement financing was led by venBio, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Redmile Group, RA Capital Management, Great Point Partners, and Apple Tree Partners, with participation from various other institutional investors, including existing shareholders Lumira Capital, ILJIN Life Science Co. Ltd. and DCF.

"We are pleased to increase our meaningful stake in Aurinia which we believe has the ability to emerge as a leader in the industry," said Jamie Brown, Managing Partner at DCF. "This financing will provide Aurinia with the necessary resources to begin implementing their strategic plan and growth for the future."

About Difference Capital Financial Inc.

Difference Capital Financial Inc. is a publicly-listed, Toronto-based specialty finance company focused on creating shareholder value through strategic investments in, and advisory services for, growth companies, particularly in the technology, media and healthcare sectors, as well as through opportunistic investments in undervalued financial assets and real property.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Aurinia is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the global nephrology market. Its lead drug, voclosporin, is a novel calcineurin inhibitor. Many members of Aurinia's current leadership team are former senior managers of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals ("Aspreva"), which Galenica acquired for C$915 million in 2008. While at Aspreva, this management team executed one of the largest and most important lupus nephritis studies ever conducted, called the Aspreva Lupus Management Study ("ALMS"), which resulted in the emergence of mycophenolate mofetil as a new standard treatment for patients suffering from this devastating and potentially fatal disease. Aurinia holds global rights to all indications for voclosporin and has development and commercialization partners in Canada, Israel, South Africa and Greater China. Aurinia also holds certain rights to exploit the ALMS database. More information is available at www.auriniapharma.com.

Cautionary Notes

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding DCF and its business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of DCF's management. In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties beyond the control of DCF. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and DCF undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.