DTRA presents Outstanding Scientific Achievement award to Aduro BioTech

Aduro BioTech, a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, is pleased to announce the "Outstanding Scientific Achievement" award from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The award was presented at the 2010 Chemical and Biological Defense Science and Technology Conference in Orlando, Florida to Dr. Justin Skoble, Associate Director, Biodefense and Process Development at Aduro BioTech. The award was given for the significant progress in developing Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)-based tularemia vaccines. The development was conducted as part of the Tularemia Vaccine Development Contract, which is a $24.8 million five-year contract awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to Dr. Rick Lyons of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in collaboration with scientists from Aduro BioTech, Arizona State University, Lovelace Biomedical & Environmental Research Institute and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“We are honored to win this award and are excited about the opportunity to work with DTRA to further advance the development of a tularemia vaccine.”

Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is caused by a bacterium called Francisella tularensis. Experts regard tularemia as a potential bioterrorist weapon due to the possibility of widespread and serious illness if the organism is aerosolized.

Aduro BioTech has developed two vaccine platforms: the most advanced is the live-attenuated double deleted (LADD) Lm vaccine platform, in which two virulence determinants (actA and inlB) have been deleted from the Lm chromosome, and the second is a photochemically killed but metabolically active (KBMA) vaccine platform. Aduro engineered these platforms to express Francisella tularensis antigens, and both vaccine platforms demonstrated significant protection in tularemia challenge models in rats.

These results were submitted as an abstract to the 2010 Chemical and Biological Defense Science and Technology Conference. The abstract was selected for an oral presentation and later, out of more than 180 oral presentations and 600 poster presentations, was awarded Outstanding Scientific Achievement.

Justin Skoble said, "We are honored to win this award and are excited about the opportunity to work with DTRA to further advance the development of a tularemia vaccine."