Aduro CEO Stephen Isaacs leaves

  • After 12 years in the position
  • Merger
  • Eric Dobmeier taking over
  • Isaacs kept it short and said 55 words

(exechange) — Berkeley, California, June 2, 2020 — Stephen Isaacs, chief executive of Aduro, leaves. As announced by Aduro Biotech Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, Stephen T. Isaacs leaves his post as chief executive officer at the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company after 12 years in the role, effective as of the closing of the transaction.

Stephen Isaacs’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Eric Dobmeier, currently chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics.

It is a generational change as well. Eric Dobmeier is about 21 years younger than Stephen Isaacs.

Merger

Stephen Isaacs’s departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Aduro said: “Aduro Biotech, Inc. (“Aduro”) (NASDAQ: ADRO) and Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. (“Chinook”), a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of precision medicines for kidney diseases, today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Aduro will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Chinook in exchange for shares of Aduro common stock representing approximately 50 percent of Aduro’s outstanding common stock immediately following completion of the transaction. The combined company is expected to have approximately $200 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at closing, including $25 million in additional financing committed by Chinook’s existing investors. Following closing, which is expected to occur in the second half of 2020, Aduro will be renamed Chinook Therapeutics, Inc., and is expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “KDNY”.”

“Stepping down”

Aduro said: “In connection with the merger, Stephen T. Isaacs, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Aduro, will be stepping down.”

Share price decline

The announcement follows a decline in Aduro Biotech Inc.’s share price of 87% since January 2016.

In the position of CEO since 2008

Stephen Isaacs became CEO of the Company in 2008.

Stephen T. Isaacs has served as the Company’s Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer since 2008.

Prior to Aduro, Isaacs founded Cerus Corporation, a biomedical products company commercializing the Intercept Blood Systems, in 1991.

He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cerus from 1991 to 2004. Prior to Cerus, Isaacs founded and served as Chief Executive Officer and President of HRIS Associates and HRI Research, both biotechnology companies focusing on research and development.

He held a non-teaching faculty position in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley from 1978 to 1986.

Isaacs has published over 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is an inventor on over 40 issued patents.

Isaacs holds a B.A. degree in Biochemistry from University of California, Berkeley, and had graduate training in organic chemistry in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Chemistry at Berkeley.

Push-out Score not determined

When a company convincingly explains that the departure is due to personal or business reasons that are unrelated to the firm’s activities, a Push-out Score™ is not determined.

Read the full story in the exechange report 23.2020 ($).