Adagene Inc. presented new data on its masked, anti-CTLA-4 SAFEbody ADG126 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 38th Annual Meeting taking place in San Diego. The data, which integrate clinical results with physiologically based pharmacokinetic and quantitative systems pharmacology modeling, demonstrated that Adagene's lead SAFEbody candidate, ADG126, is effective at targeting CTLA-4 within the tumor microenvironment (TME). This resulted in an approximately 30-fold projected pharmacokinetic difference at 10 mg/kg every three weeks (Q3W) in the TME indicating a wider therapeutic index (TI) compared to ipilimumab at 1 mg/kg Q6W, when either is combined with anti-PD-1 therapies.

The enhanced TI of ADG126 enables higher, more frequent and repeat dosing of ADG126 in combination with anti-PD-1, resulting in significantly increased CTLA-4 engagement by activated ADG126 at steady state in tumors versus circulating blood. Analyses also demonstrated that the optimal dose of ADG126 at 10 mg/kg Q3W plus pembrolizumab results in a dose-dependent efficacy profile, without a significant increase in treatment related adverse events (TRAEs).