Adagene Inc. (NASDAQ: ADAG) presented clinical trial data at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting showing its drug muzastotug demonstrated improved response rates when combined with existing cancer therapies.

In a Phase 1b/2 study for hepatocellular carcinoma, the triple combination of muzastotug, atezolizumab and bevacizumab showed a 66.7% overall response rate compared to 32.5% for the control arm receiving only atezolizumab and bevacizumab. The study included six patients in the triple combination arm and 40 patients in the control arm.

A separate Phase 1b/2 study evaluated muzastotug combined with pembrolizumab and fruquintinib in microsatellite stable colorectal cancer patients. Results showed dose-dependent response rates of 25% for patients receiving 10 mg/kg of muzastotug and 40% for those receiving 15 mg/kg.

The company stated that Grade 3 or greater treatment-related adverse events occurred in 50% of patients in the hepatocellular carcinoma triple combination arm compared to 45% in the control arm. In the colorectal cancer study, no dose-limiting toxicities or Grade 4 or 5 treatment-related adverse events were reported.

Muzastotug is designed using Adagene's SAFEbody technology, which aims to reduce toxicity by targeting antibodies specifically within tumor environments. The FDA previously designated the combination of muzastotug and pembrolizumab as a Fast Track product for microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer patients without liver metastases.

The information was based on company press release statements.