Adagene (NASDAQ: ADAG) has announced an amendment to the 2021 collaboration and license agreement with Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL) to enable the development of a third novel masked monoclonal antibody (mAb) drug conjugate.
Under the terms of the agreement, Exelixis will utilize Adagene’s SAFEbody technology platform to generate a masked mAb from the company’s pipeline for the development of an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) against an Exelixis-nominated solid tumor target. Adagene is eligible to receive development and commercialization milestones and royalties on net sales of products developed around this target.
In a statement, Peter Luo, PhD, CEO of Adagene, commented, “Our SAFEbody technology enables an antibody or ADC to be invisible until it reaches the tumor microenvironment, resulting in a wide therapeutic index, as seen with ADG126. Our evolving partnership with Exelixis highlights the potential of conditional masking to safely deliver a payload or immune modulating antibody directly to tumor cells. We are very pleased to continue to collaborate with Exelixis and look forward to the company’s development of SAFE-ADC that leverage our SAFEbody technology.”
