H.C. Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating on Agenus Inc. (AGEN)

H.C. Wainwright analyst Emily Bodnar reiterated a Buy rating and $40.00 price target on Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN).

The analyst commented: "Agenus presented an update on June 28 on the IST study evaluating bot/bal for treatment of neoadjuvant colorectal cancer (CRC) at ESMO GI. The update included 20 patients who were enrolled at the data cutoff with available pathology results, 17 with microsatellite stable (MSS) and 3 with high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) disease. Both NEST-1 and NEST-2 cohorts received one dose of bot with bal. The NEST-1 cohort received one additional dose of bal two weeks later (4 weeks total) while the NEST-2 cohort received up to 3 additional doses of bal (8 weeks total). We note that 8 weeks is the typical treatment timeframe for neoadjuvant disease prior to surgery and the company expanded the treatment period in order to allow for potentially deeper pathological responses prior to surgery. The NEST-2 cohort had a 78% (7/9) pathological response rate in MSS-CRC patients which was defined as at least 50% tumor regression, and 56% (5/9) had complete pathological response (cPR). In addition, the one MSI-H patient enrolled also had a cPR. The overall pathological response rate across the study was 75% (15/20) and cPR rate was 40% (8/20). We note that it is evident that increasing the treatment period to up to 8 weeks led to greater cPR rates and PR rates as patients had more exposure to bot/bal (Figure 1). No surgeries were delayed due to adverse events and no patients had unresolved immune related AEs at time of surgery. The safety profile was noted to be consistent with the expected profile of bot/bal in other studies. Reiterate Buy rating and $40 PT."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Agenus Inc. click here. For more ratings news on Agenus Inc. click here.

Shares of Agenus Inc. closed at $16.75 yesterday.

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