UPDATE 2-Aurinia Pharma fails to sell itself; to stop trials, cut jobs, buy back shares

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Feb 15 (Reuters) - Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, the kidney therapies developer pushed by activist hedge fund MKT Capital to sell itself, said on Thursday it failed to attract bidders and would instead pause drug development, cut jobs and buy back $150 million in stock.

The Canada-based company's shares fell 25% to $6 in premarket trading on Thursday after the news, which confirmed a Reuters report from earlier in the day.

Aurinia, which launched a strategic review at the end of June, said it engaged with more than 60 parties but got only one non-binding expression of interest that did not materialize into a formal offer.

Since starting the review, Aurinia's shares have fallen roughly 13% through the close of trading on Wednesday, giving the company a market value of about $1.14 billion.

The company said it now plans to reduce its headcount by at least 25% by the end of the first quarter, but added that the layoffs would not impact "commercial or commercial supporting roles".

Aurinia said it will now focus on its only marketed product, Lupkynis, which is an oral medicine for Lupus nephritis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the kidney.

The company said it expects to take a one-time charge of about $11 million to $15 million in the first quarter related to severance costs and contract termination costs as well as costs related to stopping all its pre-clinical studies. (Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Sriraj Kalluvila and Savio D'Souza)