Agenus reclaims antibody program after BMS terminates agreement

As per the agreement, signed in 2021, BMS licensed Agenus’ TIGIT bispecific antibody program, AGEN1777 to develop, manufacture, and commercialize. Under this agreement, Agenus received a non-refundable upfront cash payment of $200 million and an additional $45 million for reaching two milestones for progress in its Phase I and Phase II studies.

However, “with broader strategic realignment of their development pipeline involving other licensed products,” BMS sent a notice to Agenus returning AGEN1777 back and voluntarily terminated the license agreement, effective as of January 26, 2025.

The Massachusetts-based immuno-oncology firm Agenus declared in an SEC filing in July 2024 that it received milestone payments of $20 million and $25 million in 2021 and 2024, respectively.

“BMS regularly reviews and assesses our portfolio to ensure resources are allocated to programs with the highest potential impact and that meet rigorous clinical development standards. As part of ongoing portfolio prioritization efforts to develop a rich and diversified pipeline, we made the difficult but thoughtful decision to end our agreement with Agenus to license AGEN1777,” a spokesperson for BMS told BioProcess Insider.

AGEN1777 is an Fc-enhanced antibody in late preclinical development designed to target major inhibitory receptors expressed on T and NK cells to improve anti-tumor activity. In preclinical studies this approach has shown significant potential in treating tumor models where anti-PD-1 or anti-TIGIT monospecific antibodies alone are ineffective.

“When AGEN1777 was initially licensed to BMS, it had no clinical data. Since then, significant safety data has been generated in early clinical trials with indications of clinical activity,” the SEC filing said.

The terminated agreement grants Agenus access to BMS’ research and patent rights to AGEN1777, along with all regulatory registrations, applications, authorizations, and approvals for the antibody.

“We will not incur any early termination penalties as a result of the termination. We are grateful for these contributions and have begun steps to explore further remonetization of this asset when it is returned to us,” a spokesperson for Agenus said.

“Now in more advanced phases (Phase II), AGEN1777 has produced data in a Phase I dose escalation program and the Phase II trial in disease specific cohorts in lung cancer and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers validating the differentiation of this TIGIT-CD96 bispecific approach in mitigating tumor escape mechanisms.”

In July 2024, BMS cut ties with Eisai for the development and manufacturing of farletuzumab ecteribulin, formerly known as MORAb-202. The partnership announced in 2021, gave BMS rights to develop and commercialize MORAb-202. However, citing ongoing portfolio prioritization efforts, BMS gave up control of MORAb-202 in favor of Eisai.