On February 14, 2017 Incyte Corporation (Nasdaq:INCY) and Agenus Inc. (Nasdaq:AGEN) reported that the companies have amended the License, Development and Commercialization Agreement that was originally entered into January 9, 2015 (Press release, Incyte, FEB 14, 2017, View Source [SID1234517737]). The amended agreement converts the ongoing GITR and OX40 antibody programs from co-funded development and profit-sharing arrangements to royalty-bearing programs, with Incyte now responsible for funding and conducting global development and commercialization. Should candidates from either of these two programs be approved, Agenus would now become eligible to receive 15 percent royalties on global net sales of each approved product.

The ongoing TIM-3 and LAG-3 antibody programs remain royalty-bearing programs, at tiered rates of 6 to 12 percent, with Incyte retaining exclusive world-wide clinical development and commercial responsibilities.

Pursuant to the amended agreement, Agenus will receive today accelerated milestone payments of $20 million from Incyte related to the clinical development of INCAGN1876 (anti-GITR agonist) and INCAGN1949 (anti-OX40 agonist). Across all programs in the collaboration, Agenus will now be eligible to receive up to a total of $510 million in future potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones.

The parties have also entered into a separate Stock Purchase agreement whereby Incyte will purchase 10 million shares of Agenus common stock today at $6 per share.

"The antibody discovery collaboration between Incyte and Agenus has progressed well and has already resulted in two programs in clinical trials. We look forward to further developing our GITR and OX40 antibody programs, and exploring immunotherapy combinations with these compounds and other agents in the near future," said Hervé Hoppenot, CEO of Incyte.

"We believe the amended agreement will help streamline the development of our collaboration portfolio, provide the opportunity to prioritize our other internal programs towards rapid commercialization and help foster the development of our portfolio of novel I-O programs," said Garo Armen, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Agenus. "The revised agreement will also strengthen Agenus’ balance sheet and reduce cash burn."

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