Agenus Announces Positive Preliminary Results of iNKT Cell Therapy Trial in COVID-19

Agenus has announced positive preliminary results from its Phase 1 trial of iNKT cell therapy in patients with moderate to severe symptoms of COVID-19 through its subsidiary, AgenTus Therapeutics.

AgenTus is actively accruing and treating patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 with its proprietary allogeneic iNKT cell therapy, with dose escalation underway. Preliminary data show that of the 4 patients dosed to date, 3 patients (75%) were extubated and released after treatment. Notably, 2 of these patients (50%) were extubated within 24 hours of dosing.

“We are heartened by these early results, which suggest that very sick patients who were admitted to intensive care units and intubated may benefit from a single administration of our iNKT cell therapy,” said Dr. Garo Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus. “iNKT cells can be manufactured at scale and so far patients in this trial have tolerated the treatment well.”

Dose escalation is expected to be completed in the first half of this year for an initiation into a Phase 2 trial with data readouts expected in the fourth quarter of this year.