Aduro BioTech, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has entered into an agreement granting Janssen Biotech, Inc. an exclusive, worldwide license to certain product candidates specifically engineered for treating 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

Under the agreement, facilitated by the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California, Aduro is eligible to receive up to $365 million in upfront license fees and milestone payments upon achievement of defined development, regulatory, and commercialization milestones, if multiple programs advance to commercialization, as well as tiered royalties on worldwide net sales. Janssen will assume responsibility for all research, development, manufacturing, regulatory, and commercialization activities for the licensed products. Under a separate agreement, Aduro has granted Janssen exclusive rights to Aduro's GVAX technology for prostate cancer.

GVAX is a family of vaccines derived from human cancer cell lines, which are genetically modified to secrete granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an immune-stimulatory cytokine. Aduro's GVAX portfolio includes vaccines for pancreatic, prostate, colon and breast cancers as well as multiple myeloma.

Source: Aduro Biotech