Agenus Announces Strategic Realignment to Focus on Core Programs and Significantly Reduce Costs
05 Diciembre 2024 - 6:30AM
Business Wire
Agenus Inc., a leader in immuno-oncology, today announced
further details of its strategic realignment aimed at streamlining
operations, strengthening its financial position, and prioritizing
the advancement of its most impactful programs as it prepares for
2025. Reductions are designed to reduce cash burn to $100 million
in FY 2025. This initiative follows the successful closing of a $22
million mortgage secured by key real estate assets, providing the
company with enhanced operational flexibility during this pivotal
period.
Key Measures Include:
- Focusing on BOT/BAL: Agenus will concentrate its
resources on its lead botensilimab/balstilimab (BOT/BAL) program,
which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in microsatellite
stable colorectal cancer (MSS CRC), non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC), pancreatic cancer, sarcoma, and other difficult-to-treat
cancers.
- Reducing Costs: The company will implement significant
cost-cutting measures, including staff reductions and operational
adjustments, targeting a 60% reduction in annual expenditures and a
cash burn of $100 million for FY 2025.
- Optimizing Expert Manufacturing Capabilities: Agenus
plans to transition its biologics CMC capabilities to a
fee-for-service model, unlocking new revenue opportunities. This
initiative is intended to be supported by external funding.
“These adjustments are necessary to position Agenus for success
in a challenging biotech environment,” said Dr. Garo Armen,
Chairman and CEO of Agenus. “We remain committed to advancing
BOT/BAL for patients with cancers that have limited or no treatment
options.”
BOT/BAL continues to demonstrate potential across multiple
cancer types, particularly MSS CRC, a cancer historically
unresponsive to existing treatments. Agenus is advancing BOT/BAL
through clinical development and preparing for global regulatory
submissions.
Supporting Employees
Agenus is grateful to the contributions of all our team members
and will be providing support and assistance to affected employees
to help with their transitions, reflecting the company’s
appreciation for their contributions.
About Agenus
Agenus is a leading immuno-oncology company targeting cancer
with a comprehensive pipeline of immunological agents. The company
was founded in 1994 with a mission to expand patient populations
benefiting from cancer immunotherapy through combination
approaches, using a broad repertoire of antibody therapeutics,
adoptive cell therapies (through MiNK Therapeutics) and adjuvants
(through SaponiQx). Agenus has robust end-to-end development
capabilities, across commercial and clinical cGMP manufacturing
facilities, research and discovery, and a global clinical
operations footprint. Agenus is headquartered in Lexington, MA. For
more information, visit www.agenusbio.com or @agenus_bio.
Information that may be important to investors will be routinely
posted on our website and social media channels.
About Botensilimab (BOT)
Botensilimab (BOT) is a human Fc enhanced CTLA-4 blocking
antibody designed to boost both innate and adaptive anti-tumor
immune responses. Its novel design leverages mechanisms of action
to extend immunotherapy benefits to “cold” tumors which generally
respond poorly to standard of care or are refractory to
conventional PD-1/CTLA-4 therapies and investigational therapies.
Botensilimab augments immune responses across a wide range of tumor
types by priming and activating T cells, downregulating
intratumoral regulatory T cells, activating myeloid cells and
inducing long-term memory responses.
Approximately 1,100 patients have been treated with botensilimab
in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. Botensilimab alone, or in
combination with Agenus’ investigational PD-1 antibody,
balstilimab, has shown clinical responses across nine metastatic,
late-line cancers. For more information about botensilimab trials,
visit www.clinicaltrials.gov with the identifiers NCT03860272,
NCT05608044, NCT05630183, and NCT05529316.
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 its botensilimab
and balstilimab programs, expected regulatory timelines and
filings, and any other statements containing the words "may,"
"believes," "expects," "anticipates," "hopes," "intends," "plans,"
"forecasts," "estimates," "will," “establish,” “potential,”
“superiority,” “best in class,” and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. 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 Annual Report on
Form 10-K for 2023, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
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.
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Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN)
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