Nature of operations

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of operations

1. Nature of operations

On August 8, 2019, Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Aquinox”) completed a transaction with Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. (“Former Neoleukin”) pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated August 5, 2019. Former Neoleukin merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Aquinox. Upon completion of the transaction, Aquinox was renamed Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. (“Neoleukin” or “the Company”) and its common stock trades under the new ticker symbol “NLTX” on the Nasdaq Global Market.

The Company is a biotechnology company that uses sophisticated computational algorithms and methods to design de novo protein therapeutics to address significant unmet medical needs in oncology, inflammation, and autoimmunity. The Company’s lead product candidate, NL-201, is a de novo protein designed to mimic the therapeutic activity of the cytokines interleukin-2, or IL-2, and interleukin-15, or IL-15,  for the treatment of various types of cancer, including renal cell carcinoma, or RCC, and melanoma, while limiting the toxicity caused by the preferential binding of native IL-2 and IL-15 to non-target cells. In preclinical studies, a closely related precursor to NL-201 demonstrated higher levels of activity in multiple murine solid tumor syngeneic models as compared to recombinant, native IL-2.

The Company’s head-office is in Seattle, Washington.