Aduro Biotech Europe has announced that its chief operational officer and executive director, Hans van Eenennaam, PhD, and principal scientist John Dulos, PhD, were among the inventors of six breakthrough immuno-oncology treatments honored at the recent Foundation Awards Dinner, sponsored by the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPOEF).
Each was the winner of the foundation’s 43rd Inventor of the Year Award given at the Dec. 6 event in in Washington, D.C.
Van Eenennaam and Dulos’ awards recognize their work pertaining to discovery of Keytruda (pembrolizumab), the first PD-1 inhibitor to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for certain cancers.
The IPOEF Inventor of the Year award honors outstanding scientists involved in development of new medical treatments, across the spectrum of initial discovery to implementation and commercialization. Its purpose is to increase public awareness of these inventors’ work and its benefits.
“It is an honor to have been part of the team whose work led to the discovery of Keytruda and positively impacted the lives of many cancer patients,” said van Eenennaam in a press release. “Now as part of Aduro Biotech Europe, where we are focused on developing novel B-select antibodies to modulate the immune system, we are pleased to be collaborating once again with the MSD [Merck in the U.S.] team on what we believe to be the best-in-class anti-CD27 therapeutic antibody.”
Added Dulos: “As a scientist, it is incredibly satisfying to have been part of a team whose discoveries today are having a meaningful impact on the lives of many patients with several cancer types. We thank the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation for this honor and will continue to leverage our knowledge and discoveries in the field of immuno-oncology with the aim of helping cancer patients in need.”
In addition to his duties with Aduro Biotech Europe, van Eenennaam, a chemist by training with nearly 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, leads development work into new anti-cancer antibodies using the company’s proprietary B-select antibody technology. He is named as inventor on seven pending and granted patent families, including the Keytruda patents, and as author on more than 25 scientific publications.
As principal scientist at Aduro Biotech Europe, immunologist Dulos oversees the research and development of the company’s proprietary anti-APRIL (A PRoliferation-Inducing Ligand)-targeting monoclonal antibody, BION-1301, to treat multiple myeloma. Dulos is an immunologist with more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and a leader in the immunology, oncology, and infectious diseases fields. In addition, he is one of the indicated inventors on two patent applications relating to Keytruda, and an author for 16 peer-reviewed publications, including as lead author of the 2012 paper that first described Keytruda’s ability to stimulate the immune system.
To learn more about the IPOEF and the Inventor of the Year Award award, visit www.ipoef.org.
