Adagene announced a milestone with Exelixis supporting the advancement of SAFEbody ADC candidates

CAR-T Digest - August 2020

09 September 2026: Adagene announced a milestone with Exelixis supporting the advancement of SAFEbody ADC candidates

Adagene announced that it has achieved a milestone under its collaboration and license agreement with Exelixis, triggered by a preclinical milestone for XB404 and candidate selection for another SAFEbody ADC program
The milestone related to XB404 resulted in a US$2.0 million payment from Exelixis, while an additional payment was triggered by the selection of candidates for another SAFEbody ADC program, advancing multiple masked ADC candidates within the collaboration
The collaboration addresses a key challenge in ADC development, where on-target, off-tumor toxicity can limit the therapeutic window of potent antibody-based therapies, supporting approaches that enable more selective tumor targeting
XB404 incorporates Adagene’s SAFEbody precision-masking technology and is designed to deliver a cytotoxic payload to ROR1/2-expressing tumors while minimizing on-target, off-tumor effects
Strategically, the milestone validates Adagene’s SAFEbody platform for ADC applications and expands its collaboration with Exelixis across multiple masked ADC programs, with Adagene eligible for further development and commercialization milestones and royalties on net sales