Johnson & Johnson Invests In Immunotherapy Company Aduro Biotech
Aduro BioTech, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced the closing of a $55 million Series C financing. New investor Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation joined the Morningside group and other new and existing investors in the transaction.
The equity financing follows the company's recent agreement facilitated by the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California, which granted Janssen Biotech, Inc. an exclusive, worldwide license to certain product candidates specifically engineered for the treatment of prostate cancer based on Aduro's LADD immunotherapy platform. LADD is Aduro's proprietary platform of live-attenuated double-deleted Listeria monocytogenes strains that have been engineered to induce a potent innate immune response and to express tumor-associated antigens to induce tumor-specific T cell-mediated immunity.
Aduro plans to use the new capital to advance its lead program in metastatic pancreatic cancer through its ongoing Phase II b ECLIPSE clinical trial, to continue clinical development in mesothelioma and high-grade glioma, to expand into additional indications and to advance its small-molecule program targeting the immunomodulatory STING receptor.
See related story, Janssen Biotech, Aduro BioTech Sign Immunotherapy Pact
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Source: Aduro Biotech