BERKELEY, Calif., April 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aduro Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADRO), a biopharmaceutical company with three distinct immunotherapy technologies, today announced the promotion of Michele DeVries to vice president, regulatory affairs and Celeste Ferber to vice president, associate general counsel.
“I am pleased to announce the promotion of Michele DeVries and Celeste Ferber, who have each demonstrated expertise in their respective areas that is critical to the continued growth and success of our company,” said Stephen T. Isaacs, chairman, president and CEO of Aduro Biotech. “Both Michele and Celeste have played an integral role in our ongoing clinical and corporate development efforts, and we are pleased to add them to our leadership team. As we advance our programs into late stage development and set our sights on commercialization, Michele’s proven track record of effectively liaising with regulatory agencies and corporate partners, and Celeste’s extensive expertise in counseling public companies and astute business acumen, will continue to be of great value to Aduro.”
Michele DeVries, vice president, regulatory affairs, has been with Aduro since April 2013 and is responsible for all aspects of regulatory strategy, implementation and oversight of Aduro’s proprietary, partnered and licensed programs, both in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to Aduro, Ms. DeVries served as director of regulatory affairs for Intarcia Therapeutics where she managed key regulatory aspects of their drug delivery system, was the primary contact for regulatory authorities and responsible for all aspects of routine and specialized regulatory submissions including preparation for launch of four global Phase 3 studies. Before Intarcia, she held escalating regulatory affairs positions at VaxGen, InterMune and Tularik. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Celeste Ferber, vice president, associate general counsel, has been with Aduro since February 2016. Prior to Aduro, she was with Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she served as counsel in the capital markets group. Ms. Ferber has over 15 years of experience advising public and private companies on corporate and finance matters, including securities offerings, mergers, acquisitions and strategic transactions, corporate governance and securities law compliance. Before Shearman & Sterling, Ms. Ferber was counsel at Morrison & Foerster LLP working in their Palo Alto, Hong Kong and San Diego offices. Ms. Ferber received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and her B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University. She is the author of numerous publications regarding legal matters.
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 mesothelioma, ovarian, lung and prostate cancers. 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 STING receptor in immune cells, 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 Statements
This 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, our technology platforms, plans, 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,” “seek”, “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 ability 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 annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 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.