Aduro Biotech Announces Anti-CD27 Agonist, an Investigational Anti-Cancer Immunotherapy, Advancing in Collaboration with MSD
December 05 2016 - 4:00AM
Expected Filing of Investigational New Drug (IND)
Application in 2017
Aduro Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADRO), a biopharmaceutical company with
three distinct immunotherapy technologies, announced today that an
anti-CD27 antibody developed by Aduro Biotech Europe and derived
from its proprietary B-select technology has been selected to be
advanced into clinical development by Merck & Co., Inc.,
Kenilworth, NJ, USA (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada),
through a subsidiary. CD27 has been recognized as having a
critical role in activating a productive anti-cancer immune
response and has demonstrated the potential to be combined with
checkpoint inhibitors in pre-clinical studies.
“Pre-clinical studies have shown that an anti-CD27
agonist can induce a T cell-mediated anti-cancer immune response,
and in combination with PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors complete
tumor eradication can be achieved,” said Hans van Eenennaam, Ph.D.,
chief operational officer, Aduro Biotech Europe.
The CD27 antibody was licensed by MSD to advance as
a part of their successful immunotherapy development program and
was identified in close collaboration with Prof. Jannie Borst,
Ph.D., professor at the University of Amsterdam and division head
at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, through Aduro’s B-select
monoclonal antibody technology. This technology includes a
proprietary ultra-selective functional screening process to
identify antibodies with unique binding properties against a broad
repertoire of targets that can modulate the innate and adaptive
arms of the immune system.
“In 2014, prior to the acquisition by Aduro
Biotech, BioNovion entered into a worldwide license agreement with
MSD that covers the product candidate’s development and advancement
through commercialization,” said Andrea van Elsas, Ph.D., chief
scientific officer of Aduro Biotech Europe. “Both companies
recognized the significant potential of targeting CD27 as a new and
distinct mechanism in cancer immunotherapy, especially in the
context of PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, and were strongly committed
to accelerate a quality candidate into the clinic.”
Conference Call with Management Aduro’s
management will host a conference call to review this announcement
and provide a program update, including STELLAR, today at 5:30 a.m.
PT/ 8:30 a.m. ET. To participate in the conference call,
please dial (844) 309-0604 (domestic) or (574) 990-9932
(international) and refer to conference ID 31336163. Live audio of
the conference call will be simultaneously webcast and will be
available to members of the news media, investors and the general
public at http://investors.aduro.com/.
About the Aduro - MSD
Collaboration BioNovion B.V. and MSD, through a
subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA, entered
into a worldwide license agreement in 2014 for the development and
commercialization of CD27 antibody agonists, and BioNovion received
an up-front payment of $15 million. In 2015, BioNovion was acquired
by Aduro Biotech and became its subsidiary, Aduro Biotech Europe
B.V.
Under the agreement, a Joint Research Committee was formed to
advance the program. Aduro has been reimbursed for certain research
activities and is eligible to receive future development,
commercial and net sales milestone payments. In addition, Aduro is
eligible to receive royalties in the mid-single digits to low teens
based on any net sales of the product, if it is approved for
marketing.
About Aduro Aduro Biotech, Inc. is an
immunotherapy company focused on the discovery, development and
commercialization of therapies that transform the treatment of
challenging diseases. Aduro's technology platforms, which are
designed to harness the body's natural immune system, are being
investigated in cancer indications and have the potential to expand
into autoimmune and infectious diseases. Aduro's LADD technology
platform is based on proprietary attenuated strains of Listeria
that have been engineered to express tumor-associated antigens to
induce specific and targeted immune responses. This platform is
being developed as a treatment for multiple indications, including
pancreatic, ovarian, lung and prostate cancers, mesothelioma and
glioblastoma. Additionally, a personalized form of LADD, or pLADD,
is being developed utilizing tumor neoantigens that are specific to
an individual patient’s tumor. Aduro's STING Pathway Activator
platform is designed to activate the intracellular STING receptor,
resulting in a potent tumor-specific immune response. ADU-S100 is
the first STING Pathway Activator compound to enter the clinic and
is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in patients with
cutaneously accessible metastatic solid tumors or lymphomas.
Aduro’s B-select monoclonal antibody platform includes a number of
immune modulating assets in research and preclinical development.
Aduro is collaborating with leading global pharmaceutical companies
to expand its products and technology platforms. For more
information, please visit www.aduro.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include
statements regarding our intentions or current expectations
concerning, among other things, the potential for the anti-CD27
antibody described above, our technology platforms, plans, and the
potential for eventual regulatory approval of our product
candidates. In some cases, you can identify these statements by
forward-looking words such as “may,” “will,” “continue,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “project,” “expect” or the
negative or plural of these words or similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance
and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results and events to differ materially from those anticipated,
including, but not limited to, our history of net operating losses
and uncertainty regarding our ability to achieve profitability, our
ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, our
ability to use and expand our technology platforms to build a
pipeline of product candidates, our ability to obtain and maintain
regulatory approval of our product candidates, our inability to
operate in a competitive industry and compete successfully against
competitors that have greater resources than we do, our reliance on
third parties, and our ability to obtain and adequately protect
intellectual property rights for our product candidates. We
discuss many of these risks in greater detail under the heading
“Risk Factors” contained in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for
the quarter ended September 30, 2016, which is on file
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any
forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak
only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation
to update our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this
press release.
Contact:
Sylvia Wheeler
SVP, Corporate Affairs
510 809 9264
Media Contact:
Susan Lehner
510 809 2137
press@aduro.com
Aduro Biotech (NASDAQ:ADRO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Aduro Biotech (NASDAQ:ADRO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024