Adagene Raises $69 Million for Immunotherapies

The round brings the company's total raised fund to more than $150 million and will push its leading immunotherapies through the clinic and aid better in the development of drug discovery technology.

FREMONT, CA: Adagene, Inc., a China-based clinical-stage oncology immunotherapy company, closed a $69 million Series D round of financing. The round was led by US Global growth equity firm General Atlantic which also made a $50 million investment. Other investors included Eight Roads Ventures China, F-Prime Capital, WuXi Corporate Venture Fund, and Sequoia China.

The company raised more than $150 million in total, which will drive its lead immunotherapies through the clinic and aid better in the development of its drug discovery technology.

“Strong support from our new and existing investors endorses Adagene’s technology platform and strategy to develop differentiated immunotherapies in areas where others have failed,” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Adagene. “This financial commitment enables us to continue developing our lead clinical programs, ADG106 and ADG116, while extending the frontiers of our novel technology. We look forward to advancing our clinical pipeline and exploring strategic and synergistic opportunities to facilitate long-term sustainable growth.”

The funding will boost its programs of ADG106 and ADG116 and develop its technology. ADG106, an anti-CD137 targeting antibody, which is in Phase 1 studies in the U.S. and China, in solid tumors and blood cancer that are in advanced stage. Following after is ADG116, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody that has a novel mechanism of action, including dynamic modulation of CTLA-4 by soft ligand blocking and highly effective depletion of regulatory T cells.

“We believe China is a rising, vibrant hub for global life sciences innovation. Adagene represents a new-generation biotechnology company that is driving global innovation. Its cutting-edge Dynamic Precision Library platform, combined with its dedicated founders and management team, allows Adagene to advance assets of true novelty to the value inflection point,” said Lefei Sun, managing director and head of Healthcare for China at General Atlantic. “We are proud to partner with Adagene as we increase our commitment to the life sciences industry in China.”