Agenus Announces Positive Preliminary Results of iNKT Cell Therapy Trial in COVID-19
February 04 2021 - 8:30AM
Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN), an immuno-oncology company with an
extensive pipeline of checkpoint antibodies, cell therapies,
adjuvants, and vaccines designed to activate immune response to
cancers and infections, today announced positive preliminary
results from its Phase 1 trial of iNKT cell therapy in patients
with moderate to severe symptoms of COVID-19 through its
subsidiary, AgenTus Therapeutics.
AgenTus is actively accruing and treating patients with severe
symptoms of COVID-19 with its proprietary allogeneic iNKT cell
therapy, with dose escalation underway. Preliminary data show that
of the 4 patients dosed to date, 3 patients (75%) were extubated
and released after treatment. Notably, 2 of these patients (50%)
were extubated within 24 hours of dosing.
“We are heartened by these early results, which suggest that
very sick patients who were admitted to intensive care units and
intubated may benefit from a single administration of our iNKT cell
therapy,” said Dr. Garo Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus. “iNKT
cells can be manufactured at scale and so far patients in this
trial have tolerated the treatment well.”
Dose escalation is expected to be completed in the first half of
this year for an initiation into a Phase 2 trial with data readouts
expected in the fourth quarter of this year.
About AgenTus Therapeutics, Inc. AgenTus
Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing
allogeneic iNKT cell therapies to treat cancer and other
life-threatening diseases. AgenTus also aims to advance adoptive
cell therapy formats which would enable off-the-shelf living drugs.
AgenTus has locations in Lexington, MA and Cambridge, UK. For more
information, please visit www.agentustherapeutics.com.
About AgenusAgenus 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 combination approaches that
leverage a broad repertoire of antibody therapeutics, adoptive cell
therapies (through its AgenTus Therapeutics subsidiary), 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 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 StatementsThis press release
contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the
safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws, including
statements regarding the anticipated timing of cell therapy
clinical trials for COVID-19 patients, and the expected benefits to
be observed in these trials. 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. Caroline
Bafundo 212-994-8209Caroline.Bafundo@agenusbio.com
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