Full Press Release Details
Reports Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results
Update Conference Call at 11 am ET Today
LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2015--Agenus Inc.
(NASDAQ:AGEN), an immunology company discovering and developing
innovative treatments for cancers and other diseases, today announced
its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015.
"During the second quarter, we made meaningful advances across all areas
of our business which include our proprietary clinical-stage programs,
our immuno-oncology portfolio, strategic acquisitions and our balance
sheet," said Dr. Garo H. Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus. "Of note, we
presented updated Phase 2 results at ASCO for our autologous heat shock
protein vaccine, Prophage, in newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme,
demonstrating impressive median overall survival for patients with low
levels of PD-L1 on their monocytes at baseline, compared to historical
standard of care data. Our recent acquisition of novel CEACAM1
antibodies reflects our continued commitment to build a broad, yet
complementary, portfolio of immuno-modulators with the potential to
create best-in-class combination therapies for the treatment of cancer.
This was preceded by our acquisition in April of the SECANT
yeast display platform from Celexion, a platform which is complementary
to our Retrocyte DisplayTM platform, and which will allow us
to enhance the speed and efficiency of our antibody generation. We
expanded our management team including the addition of Evan Ballantyne
as our CFO, and we successfully raised $74.6 million in net proceeds
from a public offering in May to support further development of our
programs. Looking ahead, we are on track to deliver on our milestones
for 2015, including the filing of two IND's for check point modulator
programs by year end and advancing Prophage into a Phase 3 study in
newly diagnosed glioblastoma."
Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results
The company reported a
net loss attributable to common stockholders of $40.5 million, or $0.53
per share, basic and diluted, for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015
compared with a net loss attributable to common stockholders for the
second quarter of 2014 of $7.8 million, or $0.12 per share, basic and
For the six months ended June 30, 2015, the company reported a net loss
attributable to common stockholders of $59.3 million, or $0.83 per
share, basic and diluted, compared with a net loss attributable to
common stockholders of $8.5 million, $0.15 per share, basic and diluted,
for the six months ended June 30, 2014.
The increase in net loss attributable to common stockholders for the six
months ended June 30, 2015, compared to the net loss attributable to
common stockholders for the same period in 2014, was primarily due to
the advancement of the check point modulator programs, the $20.7 million
non-cash expense from fair value adjustments of the contingent
obligations and the $13.2 million charge for the purchase of the SECANT
yeast display platform in 2015. During the same period in 2014, the
company recorded non-cash non-operating income of $11.0 million related
to the fair value adjustment of a contingent obligation.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $139.6 million as
Second Quarter 2015 and Recent Corporate Highlights
In July, Agenus announced the acquisition of novel antibodies
targeting Carcinoembryonic Antigen Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (CEACAM1)
from Diatheva s.r.l., an Italian biotech company controlled by SOL
In June, Agenus announced the appointment of C. Evan Ballantyne as the
Company's Chief Financial Officer.
In June, Merck and Agenus extended the research term of their existing
collaboration and licensing agreement by one year to April 2016,
allowing Agenus to discover and optimize fully human antibodies
against two undisclosed Merck checkpoint targets.
At the 2015 ASCO meeting in June, Orin Bloch, M.D. presented updated
Phase 2 survival data for Prophage, Agenus' individualized heat shock
protein-based cancer vaccine, in newly diagnosed Glioblastoma
Multiforme (GBM) patients. In patients who had less PD-L1 expression
on their white blood cells (monocytes) at baseline, the median Overall
Survival was approximately 45 months, with more than one-third of
these patients alive without progression for more than three years.
In May, the company completed a public offering of 12,650,000 shares
of common stock, offered at $6.30 per share, which includes the
exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase
1,650,000 additional shares of common stock. The offering resulted in
net proceeds in of $74.6 million.
In April, Agenus acquired the SECANT yeast display platform for the
generation of novel monoclonal antibodies from Celexion LLC, a
privately held biotech company in Cambridge, MA. The acquired assets
also include Celexion's novel approaches to generate antibodies
against membrane bound protein targets such as G protein-coupled
receptors and ion channels, which will be used to assess antibody
binding and help determine functional attributes of agonist and
antagonist antibodies in a highly efficient manner.
In April, primary and secondary endpoint data from GlaxoSmithKline's
(GSK) successful Phase 3 trial of HZ/su, a vaccine candidate for the
prevention of shingles in adults age 50 or over, were simultaneously
presented at the 25th Scientific Conference of the European Society of
Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease in Copenhagen, and
published in the New England Journal of Medicine. GSK's
HZ/su incorporates Agenus' QS-21 Stimulon adjuvant, which is designed
to increase immune response to antigens. The vaccine demonstrated a
97.2% rate of prevention of the onset of shingles in the study
population over four years.
In April, final results from the successful Phase 3 study of GSK's
malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S, which also incorporates QS-21
Stimulon, were published in The Lancet.
Target Milestones for 2015
Submission to a peer reviewed journal of the Phase 2 data for Prophage
in newly diagnosed GBM. Advancement of Prophage for newly diagnosed
GBM to a Phase 3 trial.
EMA regulatory decision on GSK's malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S,
which contains Agenus's QS-21 Stimulon. Agenus is eligible to receive
low single-digit royalties on potential sales of GSK's malaria vaccine.