Agenus Inc., an immuno-oncology company with a pipeline of immune checkpoint antibodies, cancer vaccines and adoptive cell therapies, said the FDA accepted the company’s IND filing for AGEN1423—a milestone in its partnership with Gilead that triggered a cash payment of $7.5 million. Agenus is eligible to receive additional milestone payments in 2019 and beyond.
 
“This marks the first milestones in our collaboration with Gilead,” said Garo Armen, chief executive officer, Agenus. “AGEN1423 is a first-in-class molecule which we designed to block mechanisms that tumors use to escape and grow; we believe that this molecule has great potential for patients with cancer.”
 
The collaboration between the two companies was announced in December 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, Agenus received $150 million in upfront cash payment and equity investment and is also eligible for approximately $1.7 billion in potential future fees and milestones. Gilead received worldwide exclusive rights to AGEN1423, and exclusive option to license two additional programs: AGEN1223 and AGEN2373. Agenus is responsible for developing the option programs up to the option decision points, at which time Gilead may acquire exclusive rights to the programs on option exercise. For one of the option programs, Agenus will have the right to opt-in to shared development and commercialization in the U.S. Gilead also received right of first negotiation for two additional, undisclosed preclinical programs.