LEXINGTON, Mass., July 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN), an immuno-oncology company with a broad pipeline of novel clinical and preclinical stage checkpoint antibodies, cell therapies and neoantigen vaccines, today announced the appointment of Don Vidic as Vice President, Head of Commercial.

"Don has deep expertise in market access and distribution strategies and shares our commitment to disruptive commercial models designed to provide access to all patients who need our products," said Garo H. Armen, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Agenus. "We have built a unique ecosystem which has allowed us to innovate with speed and set new records in drug discovery and development.  We are on track to submit our first BLA filing for our lead CTLA-4 and PD-1 molecules in 2020. Our clinical stage next generation CTLA-4 (AGEN1181) and our allogeneic cell therapies are also progressing rapidly.  I'm excited to welcome Don to lead our commercial launch efforts at this very exciting time for our company."

Don Vidic is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of expertise in specialty pharma distribution, managed care, as well as physician and pharmacy services.  Prior to joining Agenus, Don served as the Chief Pharmacy and Growth Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance and as the General Manager and VP at McKesson, currently the largest oncology specialty pharma, where he managed all trade, managed care, physician sales and pharmacy services. 

"Agenus has an outstanding pipeline of products and a deep commitment to bringing high impact products to patients battling cancer," said Mr. Vidic. "My work has focused on getting patients the products they need, quickly.  I will build on the innovative standard Agenus has already set and cut through the current complex networks to get our products to patients and build value for our stakeholders."

About Agenus
Agenus is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of therapies that engage the body's immune system to fight cancer. The Company's vision is to expand the patient populations benefiting from cancer immunotherapy by pursuing combination approaches that leverage a broad repertoire of antibody therapeutics and proprietary cancer vaccine platforms. The Company is equipped with a suite of antibody discovery platforms and a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility with the capacity to support early phase clinical programs. Agenus is headquartered in Lexington, MA.  For more information, please visit www.agenusbio.com; information that may be important to investors will be routinely posted on our website.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding Agenus' clinical trial plans and activities and timelines for filing INDs, filing BLAs and initiating commercial launch of candidates, if approved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the factors described under the Risk Factors section of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Agenus cautions investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Agenus undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements, other than to the extent required by law. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Contact:
Agenus Inc. 
Jennifer Buell, PhD
781-674-4420 
[email protected] 

¹Through AgenTus Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Agenus

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SOURCE Agenus Inc.