Agenus Inc (AGEN)

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AGEN Agenus: Milestone payment from Merck triggered as MK-4830 enters Phase 2
Agenus (AGEN) announced that a milestone payment of $10M from Merck (MRK) has been triggered with the advancement of an ILT4 antibody, MK-4830, into a Phase 2 clinical trial. Agenus discovered this novel checkpoint antibody, designed to target immune-suppressive myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment for the treatment of advanced solid tumors, and licensed the molecule to Merck."Novel myeloid cell targeting antibodies have the potential to treat patients who currently do not benefit from primary checkpoint antibodies," said Garo Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus. "We are excited about the progress of MK-4830 and look forward to delivering our own wholly- owned novel myeloid tuning agent to the clinic next year." Merck is evaluating MK-4830 in combination with KEYTRUDA in a Phase 2 study in patients with PD-L1 positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer with data presented at ESMO earlier this year. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck is responsible for all product development expenses for MK-4830 and Agenus is eligible to receive up to $85M in additional potential milestone payments, as well as royalties on worldwide product sales. Under its Royalty Purchase Agreement with XOMA LLC, Agenus retains 90% of all milestones from Merck and 67% of future royalties.