Agenus acquired PhosImmune Inc. for $2.5M cash + $7.4M in Agenus stock at closing, plus up to $35M in contingent milestone payments.
On December 23, 2015 Agenus acquired all outstanding securities of PhosImmune Inc., a privately held Virginia company, which was then merged into Agenus. PhosImmune contributed a novel portfolio of cancer neoantigens known as phosphopeptide tumor targets (PTTs) - phosphorylated protein fragments on cancer cells that the immune system sees as foreign - discovered by scientific founders at the University of Virginia and Massachusetts General Hospital.
The neoantigen assets were intended to differentiate and strengthen Agenus' AutoSynVax cancer-vaccine platform, broaden its immuno-oncology pipeline, and create near-term product and partnering opportunities. Consideration was $2.5M cash and $7.4M in stock at close, with up to $35M more payable on share-price milestones.
PhosImmune's groundbreaking neoantigen assets significantly expand Agenus' current efforts, and present exciting near-term opportunities for new products and partnerships. This acquisition expands our immuno-oncology pipeline and strengthens our neoantigen capabilities to enable the development of best-in-class cancer vaccines and other novel therapies.
Advisory firms were not disclosed for this transaction.