Adagene Inc. (Nasdaq: ADAG), a company transforming the discovery and development of antibody-based therapies, is proud to welcome Professor Aurélien Marabelle, MD, PhD, to its Scientific and Strategic Advisory Board (the “SAB”). Professor Marabelle is an established physician-scientist and oncology and immunology expert with a clinical practice focused on early phase clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies at the Drug Development Department (DITEP) of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in France. He also leads a translational research laboratory (LRTI) within the INSERM U1015, exploring the mechanisms of action of immune targeted therapies.
Marabelle noted the potential of targeting and depleting tumor-specific Tregs in the tumor microenvironment (TME) via CTLA-4, which is upregulated on the membrane of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) upon T-cell receptor engagement. Adagene’s SAFEbody precision masking technology can be leveraged to deliver CTLA-4 systemically, similar to intratumoral delivery, in order to achieve higher concentrations and more effective immunotherapy at the tumor site.
Professor Aurélien Marabelle is a renowned clinical immunologist, full professor of Clinical Immunology at the University of Paris Saclay, and Director of the Clinical Investigation Center BIOTHERIS. He has dedicated his career to the clinical and translational research of intratumoral immunotherapies, with a particular focus on strategies to overcome the resistance to immune checkpoint targeted therapies. His work has been highly appreciated by the scientific community, reflected in his numerous publications and active participation in esteemed organizations such as ESMO, ASCO, AACR, SITC and the French Society for Cancer Immunotherapies (FITC), where he currently serves as President. He initially trained as a scientist in the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and King’s College London and as a clinician at the Léon Bérard Cancer Center in Lyon, France. Professor Marabelle is a distinguished leader in his field, and his research promises to have a lasting impact on the fight against cancer.
Adagene is proud to have Professor Aurélien Marabelle, a pioneer of intratumoral delivery of anti-CTLA-4 therapy, on board to further strengthen its understanding of tumor-specific Treg depletion. Peter Luo, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Adagene, explains that Marabelle’s expertise in translational and biomarker-driven trial design has helped the company increase the effective concentration of anti-CTLA-4 in the TME to achieve statistically significant tumor-specific Treg depletion. Adagene’s two anti-CTLA-4 programs, ADG116 and ADG126, have both demonstrated excellent correlation in safety and efficacy as single agents and in combination with anti-PD-1 in the ongoing phase 1b/2 studies.
About Adagene
Adagene Inc. (Nasdaq: ADAG) is a pioneering biotechnology company striving to revolutionize the development of groundbreaking cancer immunotherapies. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as computational biology and artificial intelligence, Adagene has devised its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library (DPL) platform which comprises of NEObody™, SAFEbody®, and POWERbody™ technologies. This enables Adagene to design revolutionary antibodies geared towards unmet patient needs. By forging strategic collaborations with leading global partners, Adagene is pushing the boundaries of science and striving to bring about a new era in immunotherapy.