Adagene Inc. (NASDAQ: ADAG) announced the appointment of Peter Lebowitz, MD, Ph.D., to its Scientific and Strategic Advisory Board. The clinical-stage biotechnology company focuses on developing antibody-based cancer immunotherapies.

Lebowitz currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Third Arc Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company developing multifunctional antibodies for oncology and immunology applications. He previously held the position of Global Head of Oncology R&D at Johnson & Johnson for 13 years, where he led the development organization that delivered 13 new drugs to market with over 60 approvals.

During his tenure at Johnson & Johnson, Lebowitz's drug development approach resulted in 12 FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designations and 38 New England Journal of Medicine publications for the company's oncology medicines.

"Adding Peter to our SAB is a significant accomplishment, given his vast experience with expediting breakthrough therapies and executing global regulatory strategies for novel molecules," said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and President of R&D at Adagene.

Lebowitz commented on his appointment: "Adagene's proprietary SAFEbody masking technology represents an innovative approach to addressing the historical limitations of CTLA-4–targeted therapies by enabling tumor-selective activation of ADG126 and focused depletion of intratumoral regulatory T cells."

Adagene's lead clinical program, muzastotug (ADG126), is a masked anti-CTLA-4 SAFEbody with FDA Fast Track designation. The therapy is currently in Phase 1b/2 and Phase 2 clinical studies in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy, particularly focused on microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer.

The information is based on a company press release statement.