Adagene announces clinical trial collaboration with Roche

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Adagene Inc (Adagene), a company transforming the discovery and development of antibody-based therapies, has announced a clinical trial collaboration with Roche.

According to a statement, this is to evaluate the triple combination of Adagene’s ADG126 with Roche’s atezolizumab and bevacizumab in first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; liver cancer).

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death globally, with 854,000 new cases and 810,000 deaths per year.

“We are excited to initiate this collaboration with Roche and explore the potential of ADG126 as a key component of a triplet combination for treating first-line liver cancer, along with an established standard-of-care doublet pioneered by Roche,” said co-founder and chief executive officer of Adagene, Peter Luo, Ph.D.

The collaboration will utilise Roche’s MORPHEUS-LIVER platform for rapid and efficient combination development.

Roche will sponsor and conduct a randomised phase 1b/2 multi-national trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of ADG126 in combination with bevacizumab and atezolizumab, versus atezolizumab and bevacizumab alone, initially in 60 patients.

Each company is supplying its respective anti-cancer agent(s) to support the trial and Adagene will retain global development and commercialisation rights to ADG126.

-- BERNAMA