Aduro Biotech Enters into Exclusive License Agreement for Proprietary Neoantigen Identification Technology

Aduro Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADRO), a biopharmaceutical company with three distinct immunotherapy technologies, today announced an exclusive license agreement with Stanford University for state-of-the-art neoantigen identification technology developed by Dr. Hanlee Ji, associate professor of medicine at Stanford.  Aduro will leverage its proprietary live, attenuated double-deleted Listeria (LADD) immunotherapy platform to engineer personalized LADD-based cancer therapies (pLADD) encoding multiple neoantigens identified through this technology.  The company plans to initially evaluate pLADD for the treatment of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, including colorectal cancer, with a Phase 1 clinical trial expected to be initiated in 2017.
Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Aduro received an exclusive license to the proprietary bioinformatics algorithms and computational workflows for neoantigen identification and selection. The accurate identification of neoantigens, tumor markers that are unique to an individual’s tumor, is believed to be critical in the development of a patient-specific cancer treatment.  Aduro’s LADD technology, which has been shown in clinical studies to remodel the tumor microenvironment, will be used to create a patient-specific immunotherapy that is engineered to enable the presentation of multiple selected neoantigens in dendritic cells, with the aim of inducing a targeted, robust anti-cancer immune response. “We are excited to leverage the strength of Aduro’s LADD program with this new expertise in identifying a patient’s unique repertoire of cancer antigens to make personalized immunotherapies a reality for patients in need,” said Thomas Dubensky Jr., Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Aduro. “We look forward to applying the discoveries made possible with this highly sophisticated computational approach to neoantigen identification, with the aim to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial later this year.”
About pLADD
Personalized LADD, or pLADD, is a second-generation LADD technology that leverages the immune-activating activity of the Listeria bacterial vector in combination with neoantigens, which are unique, patient-specific tumor markers exclusively expressed in an individual’s tumor cells. Once administered, pLADD therapies are expected to mobilize the immune system in two ways–first, through the immediate recognition of the presence of Listeria as being foreign, and subsequently, through a specific and customized immune attack on cells containing the tumor neoantigens presented by pLADD.  To create a patient-specific pLADD therapy, a physician begins by removing tumor cells from the patient. These cells are analyzed in order to molecularly characterize (sequence) the tumor, including any mutations that are unique to the patient’s own tumor cells. Predictive algorithms for antigen processing are run to identify pertinent tumor antigens. Aduro then creates a LADD strain that includes the patient-specific neoantigens for administration.  An Investigational New Drug (IND) application has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and a Phase 1 trial evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of pLADD in patients with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract is planned for 2017.
Preclinical Data with pLADD
Preclinical data showed that pLADD induced a robust immune response, including broad innate immune responses involving cytokines, chemokines, natural killer, and gamma delta T cells, as well as antigen-specific adaptive T cell responses (CD8+ and CD4+).  In preclinical models, pLADD remodeled the tumor microenvironment, whereby an increase in infiltration of neutrophils, T cells and dendritic cells was observed. The combination of pLADD with an anti PD-1 agent led to a sustained immune response and significant prolongation of survival in these models.
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 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 StatementsThis 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 pLADD and our other technology platforms, plans, timing and the availability of results of our clinical trials 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