LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Agenus Inc.
(NASDAQ: AGEN), an immuno-oncology company with a pipeline of
immune checkpoint antibodies, cancer vaccines, and adoptive cell
therapies1, today announced the closing of its
non-dilutive royalty transaction with XOMA Corporation (XOMA),
where XOMA purchased a minority interest in the royalties and
milestones that Agenus is eligible to receive from Incyte and
Merck. Agenus received $15.0 million
at closing and retains the majority (67%) of all future royalties
and 90% of all milestones from Incyte and Merck. Agenus also
remains eligible to receive up to an additional $450.0 million and $85.5
million in potential development, regulatory and commercial
milestones from Incyte and Merck, respectively.
"This royalty transaction highlights the significant value of
our pipeline and underscores our ability to continue to execute
non-dilutive transactions while retaining significant value in our
programs," said Dr. Garo Armen, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Agenus. "This transaction is the first of
multiple expected transactions for the balance of this year."
For more details please see Agenus' Current Report on Form 8-K
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing
the transaction here.
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 and our
twitter handle @agenus_bio; information that may be important to
investors will be routinely posted on our website and twitter.
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 expected transactions for 2018 and anticipated
royalty and milestone payments from Incyte and 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.