Aduro raises $51.4M in D round

Aduro Biotech Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.) raised $51.4 million in a series D round. New investors included OrbiMed; Janus Capital Management; Franklin Advisers; Jennison Associates; Foresite Capital Management; Clough Capital Partners; and other undisclosed investors. The Morningside Group and other undisclosed existing investors also participated. Leerink was placement agent.

Aduro's lead program, a regimen of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas cancer vaccine, received breakthrough designation from FDA last year to treat pancreatic cancer. The company intends to complete enrollment by mid-2015 of the Phase IIb ECLIPSE trial of the combination plus low-dose cyclophosphamide to treat metastatic pancreatic cancer; it expects data in 1H16. CRS-207 is a live attenuated strain of Listeria monocytogenes that expresses human mesothelin. GVAX Pancreas, an allogeneic cancer vaccine engineered to secrete GM-CSF, has Orphan Drug designation in the U.S. ...