Full Press Release Details
Acquire Antibody Manufacturing Capability, Expands Antibody Discovery
and adds Cell Line Development Capabilities with Three Separate
acquire biologics manufacturing facility and capabilities from XOMA
rights to Selexis cell line development technology
an exclusive license to a Phage Display library from Iontas
LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 5, 2015--Agenus Inc.
(NASDAQ: AGEN), an immunology company discovering and developing
innovative treatments for patients with cancer and other diseases, today
announced that it has executed three separate transactions, including
entering into a definitive agreement to acquire XOMA Corporation's
(NASDAQ: XOMA) antibody pilot plant manufacturing facility and
capabilities. Additionally, Agenus obtained an exclusive license to a
phage display library from IONTAS, and entered into an agreement for
cell line development technology with Selexis. These new capabilities,
in combination with Agenus's Retrocyte DisplayTM and
SECANT yeast display platforms, will result in a broad, vertically
integrated and highly productive in-vitro antibody discovery and
production platform.
The acquisition of XOMA's facility will enable Agenus to manufacture
checkpoint modulator (CPM) antibodies to meet its growing GMP antibody
production requirements for development and future clinical trials.
Agenus will offer employment to experienced XOMA professionals currently
operating the facility. The transaction is expected to close in
December, subject to customary closing conditions.
"We look forward to working with the team currently at the XOMA facility
and welcoming them to Agenus. With these three transactions, we will
have assembled one of the most comprehensive and integrated capabilities
in the industry," said Dr. Garo H. Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus.
"These capabilities provide us with unique advantages in an era where
quality, efficiencies and speed of development and commercialization are
paramount to successfully developing a new generation of
biopharmaceutical products. Our goal is to bring highly effective novel
therapies to patients while addressing the burden of rising healthcare
The Selexis (Geneva, Switzerland) collaboration will offer Agenus
significant advantages in the creation of high expressing and stable
master cell lines needed for antibody manufacturing. The transaction
with IONTAS (Cambridge, UK) further strengthens our suite of
best-in-class approaches to developing and optimizing antibodies as
potential new medicines. Combined, these three transactions are expected
to result in significant cost savings and greater overall efficiencies,
leading to faster, less expensive, and improved product development.
Agenus will use its newly acquired capabilities to accelerate the
development of its portfolio of CPM candidates for its own programs and
those of potential collaborators. These added capabilities will uniquely
position Agenus, allowing it to exploit its technological and
development capabilities and also facilitate new partnership
opportunities beyond its current portfolio.
"We can now apply a highly effective suite of approaches that have the
advantage of incorporating three complementary display technologies for
discovering antibodies with superior pharmacological and pharmaceutical
characteristics," said Robert B. Stein, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific
Officer of Agenus. "At Agenus, we integrate the use of these display
platforms with innovative computational, structured-based design
approaches to discover and optimize potential best-in-class monoclonal
antibodies as future medicines. Our partnership with IONTAS will be a
unique opportunity to collaborate with John McCafferty, a pioneer of the
Phage Display approach and one of the world's leading experts in its use
for discovery of therapeutic antibodies. Separately, the addition of the
Selexis cell line development capabilities and the XOMA antibody pilot
plant will allow us to advance our broad and growing CPM portfolio into
clinical studies with greater speed, quality, and control."
Under the terms of the agreement with XOMA, Agenus will pay at closing
$5.0 million in cash and up to $1.0 million in common stock. In addition
to the XOMA manufacturing facility and a team of qualified CMC
scientists from XOMA, Agenus will also gain access to selected XOMA
antibody technologies as part of the agreement. These costs, as well as
costs related to the Iontas and Selexis transactions, should be more
than offset by savings associated with reduced contract manufacturing
Agenus plans to provide further information regarding the near and
longer term benefits to the Company's programs and capabilities during
the upcoming Analyst Day on November 19, 2015 at 4:00 pm at St. Regis
Hotel in New York City.
About XOMA Corporation
XOMA Corporation is a leader in the discovery and development of
therapeutic antibodies. The Company's innovative product candidates
result from the Company's expertise in developing ground-breaking
monoclonal antibodies, including allosteric antibodies, which have
created new opportunities to potentially treat a wide range of human
diseases. XOMA's scientific research has produced a portfolio of six
endocrine assets, each of which have the opportunity to address multiple
indications. The Company's lead product candidate, XOMA 358, is an
allosteric monoclonal antibody that reduces insulin receptor activity,
which could have a major impact on the treatment of hyperinsulinism. The
Company recently initiated Phase 2 development activities for XOMA 358
in patients with congenital hyperinsulinism. Additionally, XOMA is
developing gevokizumab (IL-1 beta modulating antibody) in an ongoing
Phase 3 program enrolling patients with pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare
ulcerative skin condition. For more information, visit www.xoma.com.
IONTAS is a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel
antibody therapeutics. It employs its proven expertise in all key areas
of therapeutic antibody discovery and development. In addition to in
house drug discovery programs, Iontas is seeking to partner with select
companies to develop new antibody based therapies in the areas of cancer
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Selexis SA is a global life
science company with innovative technologies for biologic drug discovery
and mammalian Research Cell Banks for scale-up to manufacturing of
recombinant therapeutic proteins. With the Company's SUREtechnology
Platform biopharmaceutical companies can significantly reduce the time,
effort, and costs associated with developing high-performance mammalian
cell lines for the production of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and other