Aduro Biotech Acquires BioNovion, Establishes Aduro Biotech Europe as New European Subsidiary

Aduro Biotech Acquires BioNovion, Establishes Aduro Biotech Europe as New European Subsidiary

Aduro Biotech, Inc. has announced it established its European subsidiary headquarters at BioNovion, Oss, in The Netherlands. Now called Aduro Biotech Europe, BioNovion is a biopharmaceutical antibody discovery and development company. Under its new name, the company now wants to widen its technology portfolio and increase its immunotherapy capabilities, taking off with a new Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the combination of CRS-207 immunotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

“In addition to expanding our pipeline with complementary technologies, we are pleased that this acquisition allows us to integrate a highly experienced scientific team and expand our clinical development presence abroad,” explained Stephen T. Isaacs, Aduro’s chairman, president and CEO. “With our new base in Europe, we look forward to collaborating with the local European medical and business communities as we initiate international clinical research programs.”

Aduro Biotech, Inc. is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies that show the potential to transform the treatment of challenging diseases. Aduro’s multiple therapeutic platforms, which are designed to harness the body’s natural immune system, are being researched in cancer indications and have the potential to expand into autoimmune and infectious diseases.

Adding to the company’s established LADD (based on proprietary attenuated strains of Listeria that express tumor-associated antigens) and CDN (Aduro’s cyclic dinucleotide platform, designed to activate the intracellular STING receptor, resulting in potent tumor-specific immune response) technologies, Aduro’s new combined portfolio comprises the B-select monoclonal antibodies (B-select) platform, developed to yield first-and-best-in-class agonist and antagonist monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that can be used to start a new pipeline of products centered in harnessing cancer patients’ immune system.

Future clinical development plans include the beginning of a global Phase 3 trial to evaluate the combination of CRS-207, a LADD-based immunotherapy, and chemotherapy in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), a rare cancer thought to be caused by asbestos exposure and considered a serious health problem in many European countries. Clinical trial sites across Europe are expected to start in 2016. The integration of Aduro’s B-select technology provides the grounds for the company to continue investing in an excellent oncology research and development pipeline.