Agenus Inc. is a Lexington, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company focused on immunotherapy including immuno-oncology, a field that uses the immune system to control or cure cancer. The company is developing checkpoint modulators (CPMs), patient-specific anti-cancer vaccines, and adjuvants designed for use with various vaccines. CPM development is a particularly fast-moving field, since early products have produced unprecedented clinical benefits for patients.[3]
History
Agenus (formerly Antigenics Inc.) was founded in 1994 by Garo H. Armen and Pramod K. Srivastava. The company has pioneered immunotherapies, including heat shock protein-based cancer vaccines, a program that has developed into its Prophage Series of personalized anti-cancer vaccines. Antigenics became a public company in February 2000 on the NASDAQ exchange with the ticker symbol AGEN. In 2000 Agenus acquired Aquila Biopharmaceuticals and a year later it acquired Aronex Pharmaceuticals. In February 2014 the company acquired a European firm, 4-Antibody, along with their portfolio of checkpoint modulators (CPMs) and a platform (Retrocyte Display® technology) to rapidly and efficiently discover new antibodies.
In October 2013, Agenus CEO Garo Armen issued a press release revealing that after an 18-month follow up on the RTS,S Malaria vaccine using QS21-Stimulon®, it was working well enough to support a regulatory filing in 2014. This was the first proof of the efficacy of Agenus's patented "QS-21 Stimulon" adjuvant [4]