By Adriano Marchese

Adagene said early clinical trial results showed that its experimental cancer drug, muzastotug, worked better at higher doses when combined with Merck's Keytruda.

The biotechnology company found that in its Phase 1b/2 study, the treatment in combination with Merck's pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda, helped shrink tumors or keep them from growing in some patients with an advanced form of colorectal cancer called microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, that usually doesn't respond to typical immunotherapy.

According to the study, muzastotug produced a 31% confirmed overall response rate in patients receiving the 20 milligram-per-kilogram dosing strategy, compared with 13% in the 10 mg-kg cohorts, the company said.

Adagene said progression-free survival favored the higher doses.

While the company noted there weren't any extreme side effects, it said 4% of trial patients stopped the treatment because of more minor treatment-related adverse events.

The Food and Drug Administration has given the program fast-track status, but the company said results for the trials won't be expected until the first half of next year.

Adagene also announced on Thursday the pricing of its $70 million public offering of American depositary shares, setting the price at $3.75 a share. Shares have been trading significantly higher so far in the year, over double year to date to close on Wednesday at $4.61. The stock has nearly tripled in the past 52 weeks.

In premarket trading, shares fell 13% to $4.02.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2026 08:27 ET (12:27 GMT)

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