Full Press Release Details
Reports Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results
to host conference call beginning at 11 a.m. ET today
LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2014--Agenus Inc.
(NASDAQ:AGEN), an immuno-oncology company developing a portfolio of
checkpoint modulators (CPMs), heat shock protein peptide-based vaccines,
and adjuvants, today announced its financial results and business
highlights for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014.
The company's net loss attributable to common stockholders for the
second quarter of 2014 was $7.7 million, or $0.12 per share, basic and
diluted, compared to a net loss attributable to common stockholders of
$11.2 million, or $0.40 per share, basic and diluted, for the second
For the six months ended June 30, 2014, the company reported a net loss
attributable to common stockholders of $8.4 million, or $0.15 per share,
basic and diluted, compared with a net loss attributable to common
stockholders of $20.0 million, or $0.76 per share, basic and diluted,
for the six months ended June 30, 2013.
The net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2014, and the same period
of 2013, was impacted by various corporate transactions. During the
first six months of 2014, the company recorded other non-cash income of
$11.0 million related to the impact of, among other things, the
termination of GlaxoSmithKline's Phase 3 MAGE-A3 trial in non-small cell
lung cancer. In the first quarter of 2013, the company's preferred stock
restructuring, which reduced the dividend requirements for its Series
A-1 preferred securities, resulted in a non-cash deemed dividend of $2.9
million. In the second quarter of 2013, the company retired its
outstanding $39 million 8.0% senior secured convertible notes due August
2014 resulting in a non-cash loss on extinguishment of debt of $3.3
million. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $62.8
million as of June 30, 2014.
"Our focus is to advance our six checkpoint modulator programs in our
efforts to broaden our immuno-oncology portfolio beyond cancer vaccines
and adjuvants. We consummated an agreement with Merck this quarter and
expect additional corporate partnerships, particularly with our
checkpoint programs and platform," said Garo H. Armen, Ph.D., chairman
and CEO of Agenus. "Following positive data readouts during the second
quarter for both our Prophage cancer vaccine candidate in glioma and
HerpV candidate in genital herpes, we are also exploring partnerships to
advance these programs."
Second Quarter and Recent 2014 Highlights
Announced a collaboration and license agreement with Merck to discover
and optimize fully human antibodies for cancer against two undisclosed
Merck checkpoint targets using the 4-Antibody Retrocyte Display
platform. Agenus is eligible to receive approximately $100 million in
potential payments associated with the completion of certain clinical,
regulatory and commercial milestones. In addition, Agenus is eligible
to receive royalty payments on worldwide product sales. This
collaboration is now underway, and we are making good progress on this
novel checkpoint modulator program.
Reported final results from a single-arm, multi-institutional,
open-label, Phase 2 study showing that patients with newly diagnosed
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) who received Agenus' Prophage autologous
cancer vaccine added to the standard of care treatment, lived nearly
twice as long as expected. Study results showed that 50% of the
patients lived for two years, an encouraging result for a cancer that
often kills patients within one year. Prophage patients demonstrated a
median overall survival of approximately 24 months and 33% of patients
remain alive at 2 years and continue to be followed for survival.
Reported positive results from a randomized, Phase 2 study for HerpV,
a synthetic vaccine candidate for the treatment of patients with
genital Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2). The majority of patients
showed an immune response to the HSV antigens after a series of
vaccinations and a booster dose at six months. More than half of those
vaccinated developed a robust anti-HSV cytotoxic T-cell immune
response, and in those patients there was a statistically significant
75% reduction in viral load (P<0.001; CI: 46.2 - 88.6%). We believe
this is the first demonstration of a correlation between immune
responders and a statistically significant reduction in viral load. A
reduction in viral load is thought to be very relevant in reduction of
transmission and symptoms.
Agenus was selected for inclusion in the broad-market Russell 3000
Index and Russell Global Index when Russell Investments reconstituted
its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 27,
2014. Annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the
4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total
market capitalization.
Checkpoint Antibody Platform Through the company's
4-Antibody subsidiary, Agenus has developed a powerful fully-human
antibody drug discovery and optimization technology platform which it is
utilizing to generate a novel pipeline of antibody therapeutic drug
candidates. The Retrocyte Display platform uses a
high-throughput approach incorporating IgG format human antibody
libraries expressed in mammalian B-lineage cells. Agenus' checkpoint
modulator programs target GITR, OX40, CTLA-4, LAG-3, TIM-3 and PD-1.
Saponin Platform: QS-21 Stimulon
Adjuvant Agenus' QS-21 Stimulon
adjuvant is one of the most widely tested vaccine adjuvants in clinical
development. QS-21 Stimulon is designed to strengthen the body's immune
response to a vaccine's antigen, thus making it more effective. QS-21
Stimulon is a key component in the development of several
investigational vaccines across a wide variety of infectious diseases
and therapeutic vaccines intended to treat cancer and degenerative
disorders. Licensees of QS-21 Stimulon include GSK and Janssen Alzheimer
Immunotherapy. Agenus is generally entitled to receive milestone
payments as QS-21Stimulon-containing programs advance, as well as
royalties for 10 years after commercial launch, with some exceptions.
Heat Shock Protein-based (HSP) Vaccine Platform; Prophage
Derived from each individual's tumor, Prophage vaccines contain the
antigenic fingerprint' of the patient's particular cancer and are
designed to reprogram the body's immune system to target only cancer
cells bearing this fingerprint. Prophage vaccines, based on our HSP