New Hope for Treatment-Resistant Cancers, Agenus Publishes Promising Results On Botensilimab Study

Agenus Inc., recognized for its pioneering work in creating innovative immunological treatments for cancer, has today revealed the release of a groundbreaking study in the esteemed journal Cancer Discovery, published by the American Association for Cancer Research. This research highlights the unique mechanism of action and efficacy of botensilimab, a cutting-edge investigational multifunctional anti-CTLA-4 antibody, against a range of cancers that are resistant to existing treatments.

The study titled "Botensilimab, an Fc-Enhanced Anti-CTLA-4 Antibody, Is Effective Against Tumors Poorly Responsive to Conventional Immunotherapy" presents several significant findings:

Broad Efficacy in Resistant Cancers: Botensilimab has exhibited enhanced effectiveness in various cancers that resist conventional treatments, including those that have previously not responded to checkpoint inhibitors.

Advanced Fc-Enhanced Design: Unlike traditional anti-CTLA-4 antibodies, botensilimab’s Fc-enhanced design allows it to engage multiple immune-activating mechanisms simultaneously. This includes improved T cell activation, reduction of intratumoral regulatory T cells, and stimulation of antigen-presenting cells, resulting in a strong anti-tumor response.

Overcoming Traditional Therapy Limitations: Botensilimab remains effective regardless of factors that typically hinder conventional immunotherapy, such as tumor neoantigen burden and FcγRIIIA genotype, thereby expanding its potential use among diverse patient groups.

Transforming Tumor Microenvironment: The antibody uniquely modifies the tumor microenvironment, converting "cold" tumors, which are unresponsive to current immune therapies, into "hot" tumors with active immune responses. This is achieved by reducing regulatory T cells and enhancing T cell inflammation gene signatures within the tumor.

Potential in Treating Challenging Cancers: Botensilimab shows significant promise in addressing over nine challenging cancers, including microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, potentially offering clinical benefits to patient groups who have not responded to conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Dhan Chand, PhD, lead author and Vice President of Research at Agenus, said “We are thrilled to share these groundbreaking findings with the scientific community. The compelling preclinical and clinical evidence generated with botensilimab reveal an actionable pathway to improve treatment outcomes and extend survival to patient populations historically unresponsive to conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors.”

This paper highlights botensilimab's potential to tackle some of the toughest challenges in cancer treatment, providing new hope for patients with few options. Agenus is dedicated to advancing this promising therapy through continued clinical development and regulatory processes to ensure it is quickly and widely accessible to patients.