Bristol Myers Squibb is axing another big bet from the Caforio era, terminating a deal for Agenus’ TIGIT bispecific antibody three years after paying $200 million to buy into the program.
Agenus granted BMS an exclusive license to AGEN1777, which binds TIGIT and CD96 on T cells, in 2021 in return for $200 million upfront. BMS paid $20 million when the first patient received AGEN1777 in phase 1 later that year and handed Agenus a $25 million milestone in relation to the start of a phase 2 study in January 2024. Now, BMS has decided AGEN1777 is no longer part of its plans.
The Big Pharma broke the news to Agenus last week. According to Agenus, BMS is returning the rights to the bispecific antibody “as part of a broader strategic realignment of their development pipeline which involves other licensed products.”
Agenus plans to explore further development of the candidate, including by considering combinations with its other assets and may look for a new partner for the program. Investors sent Agenus’ stock down around 4% to below $5.40 in premarket trading.
The positive spin on the news is that BMS effectively paid Agenus $245 million for the chance to advance the bispecific, which was yet to enter the clinic at the time of the deal, into phase 2. Agenus emerges with an asset that, in its words, has shown “indications of clinical activity” in humans.
The more bearish take is that those indications of activity failed to persuade BMS to pump more money into the program. BMS had the best view of the candidate and its unwillingness to fund further work raises questions about whether Agenus can find a new partner—and whether it should put much of its own cash into the program.
Agenus created the candidate to overcome the limitations of anti-TIGIT antibodies. TIGIT and CD96, which share a ligand that is overexpressed on cancer cells, are often found together on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. By engaging both targets, AGEN1777 is designed to overcome TIGIT resistance. Agenus’ preclinical data supports (PDF) the idea but it is unclear whether the effects will translate into humans.
BMS’ decision to drop the asset is part of a broader rethink that the company has undertaken since Chris Boerner, Ph.D., replaced Giovanni Caforio, M.D., as CEO late last year. In recent weeks, BMS has dropped a BCMA bispecific T-cell engager months after filing to run a phase 3 trial and axed an antibody-drug conjugate it picked up from Eisai. BMS paid $450 million to co-develop the Eisai asset when Caforio was CEO.