February 1, 2021 -- Exelixis and Adagene have signed a license agreement to generate masked versions of monoclonal antibodies from Exelixis' preclinical pipeline for the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) or other biologics against Exelixis-nominated targets.
Exelixis will utilize Adagene's Safebody technology platform to generate the masked ADCs. The platform is designed to incorporate a masking peptide that covers the binding domain of a biologic therapy that can be activated by specific conditions within the tumor microenvironment to allow the therapy to preferentially bind to its target in tumor cells. This allows for improved tumor-specific targeting of antibodies while minimizing on-target toxicity in healthy tissues.
Adagene's most advanced Safebody candidate has been approved to start a clinical trial in Australia and the U.S.
Under the agreement, Exelixis will make an upfront payment of $11 million to Adagene and will have the ability to nominate two targets during the collaboration. Adagene will be eligible for development and commercialization milestones, as well as tiered royalties on net sales of products developed around each target.
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