Aduro To Buy BioNovion

(RTTNews) - Aduro Biotech Inc (ADRO) on Thursday agreed to buy BioNovion Holding B.V., a privately held monoclonal antibody discovery and development company based in The Netherlands.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aduro will pay BioNovion 14.5 million Euro in cash and 14.5 million Euro in Aduro stock.

In addition, BioNovion shareholders are eligible to receive payments upon the completion of specific regulatory milestones.

The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, which are expected to conclude in October 2015.

BioNovion specializes in immune oncology antibody discovery. The company's B-cell selection platform enables full and highly effective exploration of immunoglobulin diversity.

The acquisition will further strengthen and expand Aduro's immunotherapy capabilities to now encompass monoclonal antibodies, including preclinical assets that inhibit clinically validated immune checkpoint pathways.

In addition, BioNovion has a rich pipeline of novel preclinical monoclonal antibodies which inhibit or activate unique immune response pathways that have a role in controlling the progression of diverse malignancies.

Upon close of the transaction, Aduro plans to maintain BioNovion's current 24-person operations as a subsidiary of Aduro in Pivot Park, Oss, the Netherlands, Drs. Andrea van Elsas and Hans van Eenennaam, BioNovion's chief scientific officer and chief operating officer respectively, will retain the same titles of the subsidiary.