- Biotech luminary to mentor C-suite and provide strategic guidance -

SAN DIEGO and SUZHOU, China, April 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adagene Inc. (“Adagene”) (Nasdaq: ADAG), a company transforming the discovery and development of antibody-based therapies, today announced the appointment of Dr. John Maraganore as Executive Advisor.

“Adagene is currently breaking a toxicity barrier with their proprietary masking technology, delivering a checkpoint inhibitor selectively and conditionally to tumor cells. Their platform has broad potential for enhanced immunotherapy with effective regulatory T-cell depletion, in conjunction with monoclonal antibodies, bispecifics, T-cell engagers, and antibody drug conjugates,” said Dr. Maraganore. “I look forward to guiding and contributing to the Company’s growth, value creation and benefit for patients.”

Peter Luo, Ph.D., Cofounder, CEO and President of R&D at Adagene added, “John Maraganore’s legacy of solving the RNAi delivery challenge - once thought impossible - always inspires me. He and his team accomplished delivery of RNAi therapeutics to specific tissue cells in the human body without degradation and off-target toxicity. And this is exactly what we are doing with ADG126: delivering anti-CTLA-4 safely to specific T cells, minimizing off-tumor toxicity, and remaining inactive during circulation until ADG126 reaches the tumor. Although the modality is different, the problem we aim to solve is the same, and having John’s guidance is a tremendous opportunity for Adagene and our mission.”

Dr. John Maraganore was CEO of Alnylam from 2002 to 2021, where he led the Company through global approvals and commercialization of four RNA interference therapeutic medicines. While at Alnylam, Dr. Maraganore also led value creation efforts, forming over 20 major pharmaceutical alliances and building over $25 billion of market capitalization.

As a partner or advisor with ARCH Venture Partners, Atlas Ventures, Blackstone Life Sciences, Jefferies Financial Services, and RTW Investments, Dr. Maraganore also sits on public and private company Boards of Directors and actively advises and mentors life sciences CEOs.

Dr. Maraganore received his B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago.

About Adagene
Adagene Inc. (Nasdaq: ADAG) is a platform-driven, clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based cancer immunotherapies. Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address globally unmet patient needs. The company has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its SAFEbody precision masking technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science.

Powered by its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library (DPL) platform, composed of NEObody™, SAFEbody®, and POWERbody™ technologies, Adagene’s highly differentiated pipeline features novel immunotherapy programs. The company’s SAFEbody technology is designed to address safety and tolerability challenges associated with many antibody therapeutics by using precision masking technology to shield the binding domain of the biologic therapy. Through activation in the tumor microenvironment, this allows for tumor-specific targeting of antibodies, while minimizing on-target off-tumor toxicity in healthy tissues.

Adagene’s lead clinical program, ADG126 (muzastotug), is a masked, anti-CTLA-4 SAFEbody that targets a unique epitope of CTLA-4 in regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the tumor microenvironment. ADG126 is currently in phase 1b/2 clinical studies in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy, particularly focused on Metastatic Microsatellite-stable (MSS) Colorectal Cancer (CRC). Validated by ongoing clinical research, the SAFEbody platform can be applied to a wide variety of antibody-based therapeutic modalities, including Fc empowered antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, and bi/multispecific T-cell engagers.

For more information, please visit: https://investor.adagene.com.
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SAFEbody® is a registered trademark in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the European Union.

Investor Contacts:

Raymond Tam
raymond_tam@adagene.com

Bruce Mackle
LifeSci Advisors
bmackle@lifesciadvisors.com