News Category: English News

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., and SUZHOU, China, Jan. 12, 2021 – Adagene, Inc., a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with precision antibody engineering, discovery and development capabilities, today announced the successful completion of its component of the collaboration with Richard Childs, M.D., Chief of the Laboratory of Transplantation Immunotherapy at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a result of the collaboration, Adagene discovered antibodies that Dr. Child’s laboratory has turned into a CAR-T cell therapy candidate for the potential treatment of renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, according to Frost & Sullivan.

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), remnants of ancient germ-line infections with exogenous retroviruses, are estimated to comprise up to 8% of the human genome. A growing number of HERV genes and proteins have been found to be expressed in different cancers, and they might represent new targets for tumor immunotherapy.

“The novel antibodies were co-discovered and tested by Adagene and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have enabled us to potentially develop the first CAR-T cell therapy candidate targeting a human endogenous retrovirus expressed in the majority of clear cell kidney tumors,” said Dr. Childs. “This is an encouraging development that builds on decades of research in our quest to find ways to adapt and enhance immune cells to target and kill even the most aggressive cancers. I look forward to the evaluation and hopefully the development of this novel CAR-T cell and other antibody-based therapies in clinical trials.”

The NIH will lead and be responsible for the manufacturing and clinical development of the CAR-T cell therapy candidate.

“Adagene is honored to have worked with Dr. Childs and his laboratory on this novel family of HERV as potential target for tumor immunotherapy,” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Adagene. “Using our NEObody™ technology, we identified novel antibodies against HERV expressed targets in renal cell carcinoma, which to our knowledge has never before been accomplished. We look forward to the advancement of the first-in-class CAR-T cell therapy Dr. Childs’ laboratory has pioneered based on antibodies discovered at Adagene.  In the meantime, Adagene continues to make progresses on its pipeline of programs developed with NEObody™ and SAFEbody™ technologies, to address unmet medical needs.”

NEObody™ is part of Adagene’s Dynamic Precision Library (DPL) platform, which combines computational biology and synthetic biology to enable the selection of antibody candidates with novel epitopes, robust CMC profiles and desired safety and efficacy attributes for downstream development.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based cancer immunotherapies. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its proprietary pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science.

Forward Looking Statements

This article contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events, including but are not limited to those regarding the therapeutic potential of and potential clinical development and commercialization plans for Adagene’s pipeline candidates, its strategic and financial plans and expectations as well as financial projections.

In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to: our goals and strategies; our future business development, financial conditions and results of operations; results of our clinical trials and preclinical studies; the expected collaboration between NIH and us; our expectations regarding our relationships with our business partners and our other stakeholders; competition in our industry; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to our industry.

Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Management’s expectations and, therefore, any forward-looking statements in this presentation could also be affected by risks and uncertainties relating to a number of other factors, many of which are beyond Adagene’s control. All information in this article is as of the date hereof, and Adagene disclaims any obligation to update or revise such information unless required by law.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. and SUZHOU, China, December 2, 2020 – Adagene, Inc., a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with precision antibody engineering, discovery and development capabilities, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Hua Gong, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Precision Medicine, JC Xu, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer, and Qinghai Zhao, Ph.D., as Chief Manufacturing Officer. The Company also recently secured laboratory and office space in San Diego to establish a center of excellence for precision medicine and to support its growth in the United States.

“I am pleased to welcome Dr. Gong, Dr. Xu and Dr. Zhao to Adagene’s leadership team. Dr. Gong’s contributions to securing regulatory approval for seven precision oncology drugs, Dr. Xu’s extensive oncology drug discovery and translational medicine experience and Dr. Zhao’s expertise in manufacturing will be invaluable as we continue to redefine the discovery and design of novel antibodies and advance our immunotherapy clinical programs,” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Adagene. “Our expansion into San Diego is indicative of Adagene’s continued global growth. We look forward to building out our team in San Diego with a focus on precision medicine and translational studies to support the acceleration of our powerful Dynamic Precision Library platform for our partners and pipeline of potential first or best-in-class therapies.”

Dr. Gong will be responsible for all aspects of Adagene’s clinical development programs. She most recently worked at Novartis Navigate Biopharma as Senior Director, Genomics Biomarker Department. There, she contributed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of seven oncology drugs since 2013. Previously, Dr. Gong was Executive Director of IVD & CDx at Premier Research Group, where she effectively enabled oncology development programs of their pharmaceutical partners by providing precision medicine solutions. At Prometheus Therapeutics & Diagnostics, Dr. Gong was Associate Director of the Clinical Development Department, where she was responsible for overseeing multiple clinical studies. Earlier in her career, Dr. Gong worked at Pfizer for over 10 years in positions of increasing responsibility. Dr. Gong received her Ph.D. in cancer biology from Wayne State University, M.S. from Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences and M.D. from An Hui Medical University.

Dr. Xu will be responsible for Adagene’s drug discovery pipeline and translational medicine. Dr. Xu has more than 20 years of experience in oncology drug discovery and development and more than 4 years of experience in business development, strategy, and operations in the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry. She joins Adagene from Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb), where she was Head of China Strategy for Research and Early Development. Prior to that, Dr. Xu was Director of Strategy & Operations at Celgene Quanticel Research and Director of Biology at Quanticel Pharmaceuticals, where she was instrumental in the successful acquisition of Quanticel by Celgene. Prior to Quanticel, Dr. Xu held leadership roles with multiple biopharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Amgen and Corixa. Dr. Xu received her Ph.D. in immunology from University of Alabama at Birmingham and M.D. from Beijing Medical University (now Peking University Health Science Center).

Dr. Zhao will be responsible for overseeing the manufacturing of Adagene’s novel antibodies. He brings over 30 years of drug development experience to Adagene. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Technical Development and Manufacturing at Forty Seven Inc., an immunology company acquired by Gilead in early 2020. He was responsible for CMC development and clinical supply management for a number of programs, including magrolimab. Prior to Forty Seven, Dr. Zhao was Vice President of CMC and Manufacturing at AnaptysBio, Head of CMC at NGM Bio and Director of CMC Management at Teva Biopharmaceuticals USA. In his early career in China, he served as Head of Plasma Protein Therapeutics R/D at Shanghai Institute of Biological Products. Dr. Zhao earned his Ph.D. in life sciences from Uppsala University, M.S. in biochemistry from Fudan University (Shanghai Medical University) and B.E. in biochemistry from East China University of Science and Technology.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based cancer immunotherapies. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its proprietary pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science.

San Francisco, California, Suzhou, China, and San Diego, California June 10, 2020 – Adagene Incorporated, a precision antibody engineering, discovery and development company, and Tanabe Research Laboratories U.S.A., Inc. (TRL), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), today announced that the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration under which TRL will use Adagene’s SAFEbody™ technology platform to generate a masked antibody in combination with the cytotoxic payload technologies used at TRL, for the development of an ADC against a solid tumor target.

Adagene has developed the SAFEbody™ technology platform for discovery of a masked antibody which is activated by factors present in tumor tissues but not in healthy tissues. This allows for the tumor-specific targeting of antibodies with minimized on-target toxicity in healthy tissues. The tumor-specific targeting technology is expected to safely enhance the therapeutic index of the ADC delivery of the cytotoxic payload.

“We look forward to combining our SAFEbody™ technology with TRL’s ADC technologies to develop a treatment for a solid tumor target,” said Peter Luo, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Adagene. “Adagene’s precision protein engineering capabilities enable us to create highly masked antibodies while retaining their efficacy. Traditional ADC technologies are limited in most solid tumor targets because toxicity was observed at optimal efficacious doses. Our new modality, POWERbody™, combining SAFEbody™ with ADCs, aims to deliver safe and potent therapies toward a wide range of targets.”

Financial terms and target identification were not disclosed.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a private, clinical-stage, leading-edge oncology immunotherapy company driven by its powerful Dynamic Precision Library platform built to deliver treatments with increased efficacy and safety. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its wholly owned pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs with potential to be first or best in class. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science. Founded and led by experienced leaders with a global track record in antibody discovery and engineering, Adagene has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors including F-Prime, Eight Roads, WuXi AppTec, GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT, Sequoia China and General Atlantic, among others.

About Tanabe Research Laboratories U.S.A., Inc. (TRL)

TRL is an independent subsidiary of MTPC located in San Diego California, whose role is to discover and develop biological drug candidates for therapy. Currently, TRL’s efforts are directed towards antibody and antibody-related research to target tumors and other diseases with high unmet needs.www.trlusa.com

Title:

Phase 1, dose-escalation study of ADG106, a fully human anti-CD137 agonistic antibody, in subjects with advanced solid tumors or relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract:

#3105

Time:

8:00 – 11:00 AM (EST), May 29th, 2020

Session:

Developmental Therapeutics—Immunotherapy

Lead Author:

Li Zhang, M.D., Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.

Highlights from ADG106 China Phase 1 Study:

• ADG106 has shown a well-tolerated safety profile in dose escalation, and also reported drug related DLT at the highest dose of 10mg/kg, demonstrating the possibility of generating a safe and potent monoclonal antibody agonist against this challenging target.
• Pharmacokinetic analysis of ADG106 showed dose proportional increases in exposure, with a half-life of around 7 days.
• Preliminary clinical activity was seen in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and certain solid tumors, disease control rate was 60% and tumor shrinkage was observed in 25% of patients. In a heavily pretreated NHL patient, CT scans indicated >50% tumor reduction in two of the six targeted lesions while receiving ADG106. Potential biological activity and pharmacodynamic biomarker responses (proliferative Ki67+ CD8+ and effector memory T-cell) were also observed in connection with changes in soluble and membrane bound CD137 in multiple patients.
• Favorable safety profile and preliminary antitumor activity demonstrated by ADG106 warrant further evaluation. The dose expansion cohorts at selected doses along these lines were initiated in patients with advanced non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and certain solid tumors.

About CD-137 (4-1BB)

CD137 or 4-1BB, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily is a promising immune-oncology target. Ligation of CD137 induces a co-stimulatory signal on activated CD8+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, resulting in proliferation, increased pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and cytolytic function. CD137 or 4‐1BB co-stimulation is the clinically validated pathway for the optimal T cell activation and its anti-tumor response is highlighted by the successful approval of the 4‐1BB-containing CAR-T therapy by the U.S. FDA.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a private, clinical-stage, leading-edge oncology immunotherapy company driven by its powerful Dynamic Precision Library platform built to deliver treatments with increased efficacy and safety. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its wholly owned pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs with potential to be first or best in class. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science. Founded and led by experienced leaders with a global track record in antibody discovery and engineering, Adagene has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors including F-Prime, Eight Roads, WuXi AppTec, GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT, Sequoia China and General Atlantic, among others.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a private, clinical-stage, leading-edge oncology immunotherapy company driven by its powerful Dynamic Precision Library platform built to deliver treatments with increased efficacy and safety. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its wholly owned pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs with potential to be first or best in class. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science. Founded and led by experienced leaders with a global track record in antibody discovery and engineering, Adagene has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors including F-Prime, Eight Roads, WuXi AppTec, GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT, Sequoia China and General Atlantic, among others.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and SUZHOU, China, January 8, 2020 – Adagene, Inc., a clinical-stage, leading-edge oncology immunotherapy company driven by a powerful antibody discovery and engineering platform, today announced the completion of a $69 million Series D financing, including $50 million from lead investor General Atlantic. Adagene has raised more than $150 million from private financings since 2014.

“Strong support from our new and existing investors endorses Adagene’s technology platform and strategy to develop differentiated immunotherapies in areas where others have failed,” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Adagene. “This financial commitment enables us to continue developing our lead clinical programs, ADG106 and ADG116, while extending the frontiers of our novel technology. We look forward to advancing our clinical pipeline and exploring strategic and synergistic opportunities to facilitate long-term sustainable growth.”

“We believe China is a rising, vibrant hub for global life sciences innovation. Adagene represents a new-generation biotechnology company that is driving global innovation. Its cutting-edge Dynamic Precision Library platform, combined with its dedicated founders and management team, allows Adagene to advance assets of true novelty to the value inflection point,” said Lefei Sun, Managing Director and Head of Healthcare for China at General Atlantic. “We are proud to partner with Adagene as we increase our commitment to the life sciences industry in China.”

“Adagene demonstrates that some of the world’s most exciting life sciences developments are now happening in China. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Luo and the entire Adagene team to support the company’s vision to bring innovative therapeutics to patients around the world,” said David Hodgson, Vice Chairman of General Atlantic.

About Adagene’s Lead Clinical Programs

ADG106
Adagene’s lead agonist program, ADG106, is a fully human agonistic anti-CD137 monoclonal IgG4 antibody that targets a unique conserved epitope of CD137 and is cross-reactive across human, monkey and mouse. ADG106 has a novel mechanism of action for CD137 agonism (which activates CD137 in a native ligand-like fashion), CD137 ligand antagonism (which blocks reverse signaling of CD137 ligand), and potent cross-linking via Fc receptor. ADG106 is being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. and China in patients with advanced or metastatic solid and liquid tumors. ADG106 has demonstrated a superior safety profile and no dose-dependent liver toxicity has been observed to date. Early efficacy signals and significant biomarker response demonstrating T-cell proliferation have also been observed.

ADG116
Adagene’s lead antagonist program, ADG116, is a fully human and cross-reactive antagonistic anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal IgG1 antibody that binds to a unique conserved epitope on CTLA-4. ADG116 has a novel mechanism of action including dynamic modulation of CTLA-4 by soft ligand blocking and highly effective depletion of regulatory T cells. ADG116 has demonstrated a superior safety profile and efficacy in pre-clinical studies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Adagene’s IND application for ADG116.

About Adagene

Adagene, Inc. is a private, clinical-stage, leading-edge oncology immunotherapy company driven by its powerful Dynamic Precision Library platform built to deliver treatments with increased efficacy and safety. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Its wholly owned pipeline is comprised of novel immunotherapy programs with potential to be first or best in class. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science. Founded and led by experienced leaders with a global track record in antibody discovery and engineering, Adagene has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors including F-Prime, Eight Roads, WuXi AppTec, GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT, Sequoia China and General Atlantic, among others.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 150 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.

Investors Contact

Raymond Tam
Adagene
86-8777-3626
Raymond_tam@adagene.com
business@adagene.com

SAN FRANCISCO, California and SUZHOU, China,Oct.26th, 2019 – Adagene Inc., a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies, announced that it is presenting its lead program at international conferences.

During the Festival of Biologics conference in Basel, Switzerland, Adagene gave a presentation on “Targeting the conserved epitopes of check points for rational single and combination immunotherapy”, highlighting the unique power of Adagene’s proprietary antibody discovery technology, Dynamic Precision Library (DPL), in generating species cross-reactive antibodies to enable translational studies in immune intact animal models. The DPL system combines extensive computational design, machine learning and high throughput phage and yeast screening to generate cross-reactive antibodies targeting evolutionarily conserved epitopes with novel mechanism of actions and excellent developability.

A case study of ADG106, a species cross reactive agonist antibody which targets the conserved epitope of CD137 across human, monkey and mouse. ADG106 activates CD137 in a native ligand-like fashion, while it also blocks the reverse signaling mediated by CD137 ligand. Furthermore, ADG106 is shown to exhibit Fc-mediated strong crosslinking. ADG106 has been extensively tested for efficacy in both single and combination therapy using syngeneic mouse tumor models that are believed to be relevant preclinical models of intact immune system and highly translatable into a rational approach toward single and combination immunotherapies.

The clinical data from the ongoing phase 1, first-in-human, dose-escalation study of ADG106, will be presented in a poster session at the 2019 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.The Phase 1 study in the United States, First-In-Human study of ADG106 in subjects with advanced or metastatic solid tumors and/or relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NCT02407990) is being conducted at NEXT Oncology (San Antonio, Texas), and consists of dose-escalation and dose-expansion phases in disease-specific cohorts.

About Adagene

Adagene (San Francisco, California and Suzhou, China) is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies. By utilizing its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library (DPL) and SAFEbody technologies, Adagene is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering capabilities building franchises of second and third-generation antibody products. Adagene’s lead program, ADG106, is a CD137 agonist currently in phase I in US and China. Adagene is backed by top tier global venture funds including F-Prime Capital Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Wuxi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund I L.P., GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT Ltd and Sequoia China. The company has raised over $100 million through its series A to C financing.

Suzhou, China and Lausanne, Switzerland, April 24, 2019 – Adagene Inc., an antibody engineering and discovery company , and ADC Therapeutics, an oncology drug discovery and development company that specializes in the development of proprietary antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), today announced that they have entered into a discovery collaboration and license agreement. ADC Therapeutics will use Adagene’s SAFEbody™ technology to generate a masked antibody that will be combined with ADC Therapeutics’ pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) cytotoxic payload technology for the development of a novel ADC against a solid tumor target.

Adagene has developed the SAFEbody technology to produce masked antibodies that are activated to bind to an antigen in the tumor microenvironment by factors present in tumor tissues but not in healthy tissues. This enables enhanced specificity for targeting of an ADC and minimizes off-target toxicity on healthy cells, potentially enhancing the therapeutic index of the ADC.

“The SAFEbody technology requires specific conditions within the tumor microenvironment to unleash the ADC’s full therapeutic potential,” said Patrick van Berkel, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at ADC Therapeutics. “Combining a SAFEbody with highly potent PBD-based payloads will allow us to develop potent new tumor-specific ADCs that depend on the unique conditions in the local tumor microenvironment for full activation.”

ADC Therapeutics has entered into the agreement with Adagene for one exclusive target, with the option to leverage SAFEbody technology for one additional exclusive target. Both potential programs will focus on targets in which healthy tissue expression does not permit development of ADCs incorporating traditional antibodies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Adagene will receive research funding for the discovery phase. Upon success of the discovery collaboration, Adagene will receive an upfront payment, development and commercial milestone payments, and royalties on net sales. ADC Therapeutics has granted Adagene certain commercial rights for Greater China. No other financial terms were disclosed.

“We are very pleased to partner our SAFEbody technology with ADC Therapeutics,” said Peter Luo, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Adagene. “Adagene’s innovative protein engineering ability enables us to tailor-make products to limit their on-target off-tumor toxicity. Together with ADC Therapeutics’ experience in developing ADCs with highly potent PBD payloads, we have the potential to unlock new treatment options for patients with unmet medical needs.”

“We’re excited to collaborate with Adagene to work toward the next generation of masked ADCs,” said Chris Martin, Chief Executive Officer at ADC Therapeutics. “As we continue evaluating our potent ADCs in ongoing clinical trials, we look forward to exploring how Adagene’s SAFEbody technology incorporated in our ADCs may enable us to further improve anti-tumor activity while minimizing side effects.”

About Adagene

Adagene (Suzhou, China and San Francisco, California) is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies. By utilizing its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library Platform (DPL) and SAFEbody technologies, Adagene is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering capabilities building franchises of second and third-generation antibody products. Adagene’s lead program, ADG106, is a CD-137 agonist currently in phase I in US and China.

Adagene is backed by top tier global venture funds including F-Prime Capital Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Wuxi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund I L.P., GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT Ltd and Sequoia China. The company has raised over $85 million through its series A to C financing.

About ADC Therapeutics

ADC Therapeutics SA is an oncology drug discovery and development company that specializes in the development of proprietary antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting major hematological malignancies and solid tumors. The Company’s ADCs are highly targeted biopharmaceutical drugs that combine monoclonal antibodies specific to surface antigens present on particular tumor cells with a novel class of highly potent pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD)-based warheads via a chemical linker. The Company has five PBD-based ADCs in ongoing clinical trials, ranging from first in human to pivotal Phase II, in the USA and Europe, and a deep pipeline of other preclinical ADCs in development. ADC Therapeutics reported encouraging clinical data, including acceptable safety profiles and strong single-agent anti-tumor activity from its ongoing Phase I trials of ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine) and ADCT-301(camidanlumab tesirine) in multiple subtypes of lymphoma at the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.

ADC Therapeutics has world-class partners, including AstraZeneca and its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune. The Company is based in Lausanne (Biopôle), Switzerland and has operations in London, San Francisco and New Jersey. For more information, visit www.adctherapeutics.com.

“Adagene’s Dynamic Precision Library has continuously showcased its power to identify functional antibodies against difficult targets where traditional methods have failed,” said Dr. Peter Luo, CEO of Adagene. “We look forward to partnering with Celgene to identify novel antibodies against challenging targets.”

“The Dynamic Precision Library is designed for broad epitope coverage while keeping the developability of those candidates in mind,” said Dr. Felix Du, Head of Technology Development at Adagene. “There are quality control checks throughout the process to ensure fidelity. As a result, we can move very quickly to engineer therapeutic leads with tailor-made product profiles that directly translate into clinical candidates of value to our clients.”

About Adagene

Adagene (Suzhou, China and San Francisco, California) is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies. By utilizing its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library Platform (DPL), Adagene is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering capabilities by building franchises of products that are second and third-generation antibodies.

The company’s management team is composed of industry veterans with proven track records in therapeutic antibody R&D. Adagene is backed by top notch global venture funds such as F-Prime Capital Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Wuxi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund I L.P., GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT Ltd and Sequoia China. The company has raised over $85 million through its series A to C financing.

Dr. Childs’s laboratory will convert these antibodies into a CAR-T, as they work to develop a non-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted immunotherapy approach to targeting an endogenous retrovirus with tumor-restricted expression.

“We are very pleased to be collaborating with such an expert in the field of clinical cancer biology, ” said Peter Luo, CEO of Adagene. “At Adagene, our goal is to translate innovation and scientific research into life-saving medications. It is incredibly rewarding to have the opportunity to leverage our proprietary Dynamic Precision Library to develop antibodies against a disease with such highly unmet medical need. ”

“Adagene has gone to great lengths to develop our leading antigen display technology, ”said Felix Du, Head of Technology Development at Adagene. “With our unique combination of antigen presentation technologies and having a very large, diverse and fully human antibody discovery library we were able to find the first antibodies targeting non-MHC restricted surface-expressed antigens against this class of challenging cancer targets. ”

About Adagene

Adagene (Suzhou, China and San Francisco, California) is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies. By utilizing its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library Platform (DPL), Adagene is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering capabilities by building franchises of products that are second and third-generation antibodies.

The company’s management team is composed of industry veterans with proven track record in therapeutic antibody R&D. Adagene is backed by top notch global venture funds such as F-Prime Capital Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Wuxi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund I L.P., GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT Ltd and Sequoia China. The company has raised over $85 million through its series A to C financing.