LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Agenus Inc.
(NASDAQ: AGEN), an immuno-oncology (I-O) company with a pipeline of
immune checkpoint antibodies, cancer vaccines and adoptive cell
therapies1, announced today that Merck, known as MSD
outside the United States and
Canada, initiated a Phase I
clinical trial of an undisclosed antibody candidate discovered by
Agenus, under the two companies license and research collaboration.
Based on this milestone and under the terms of the agreement,
Agenus received a $4 million
milestone payment and is entitled to receive up to an additional
$95 million in success milestones
from Merck.
"We continue to deliver on all milestones with our existing
partners." said Garo H. Armen,
Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Agenus. "This is yet another validation
of our antibody discovery platform and expertise in the field and
adds to our successes in delivering first in class discoveries to
patients. Notably, besides this, we also have two other partnered
programs advancing to the clinic this year, each triggering
additional milestone payments to Agenus."
This milestone is the second under the collaboration, originally
announced in April 2014. According to
the terms of the agreement, Merck is responsible for all product
development expenses for the antibody candidate, and Agenus is
eligible to receive up to an additional $95
million in milestone payments, as well as royalties on
worldwide product sales.
About Agenus
Agenus is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on
the discovery and development of therapies that engage the body's
immune system to fight cancer. The Company's vision is to expand
the patient populations benefiting from cancer immunotherapy by
pursuing a number of combination approaches that leverage a broad
repertoire of antibody therapeutics and proprietary cancer vaccine
platforms. The Company is equipped with a suite of antibody
discovery platforms and a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing
facility with the capacity to support early phase clinical
programs. Agenus is headquartered in Lexington, MA. For
more information, please visit www.agenusbio.com; information
that may be important to investors will be routinely posted on our
website.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal
securities laws, including statements regarding future potential
payments from Merck. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among
others, the factors described under the Risk Factors section of our
most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form
10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Agenus
cautions investors not to place considerable reliance on the
forward-looking statements contained in this release. These
statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and
Agenus undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements,
other than to the extent required by law. All forward-looking
statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this
cautionary statement.
Contact:
Agenus Inc.
Jennifer Buell, PhD
781-674-4420
Jennifer.Buell@agenusbio.com
1Through AgenTus Therapeutics, a subsidiary of
Agenus
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SOURCE Agenus Inc.