Ahmedabad, India, June 3, 2025
Zydus Lifesciences Limited (including its subsidiaries/affiliates, hereafter referred to as “Zydus”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN) to acquire India and Sri Lanka commercial rights for its investigational Botensilimab (BOT) and Balstilimab (BAL), combination therapy. Agenus Inc. is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company committed to developing immune therapies that effectively combat cancer.
Agenus’ lead programme comprising Botensilimab (BOT) and Balstilimab (BAL), is a next-generation immunotherapy platform designed to strengthen and sustain the immune system’s response against tumour cells. Currently in advanced clinical trials, BOT/BAL have demonstrated significant clinical activity across nine cancer types in more than 1,200 patients, including both late-stage and neoadjuvant settings.
As a part of the agreement, Zydus will be responsible for clinical development and regulatory approvals of licensed products in these territories and will pay 5% royalty on net sales upon successful approval & commercialization.
“Our licensing partnership with Agenus aligns with Zydus’ overarching biologics vision and our aim to advance novel solutions for high-unmet need areas,” said Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director of Zydus Lifesciences. “Agenus’ robust pipeline and research in immuno-oncology along with Zydus’ reach as the largest Indian oncology player, is a significant step forward in our collective fight against cancer. We are confident that this collaboration will bring transformative therapies to patients who need them most, in India and Sri Lanka markets.”
Zydus with its strong clinical development and regulatory capabilities will not only expand the reach of BOT/BAL therapy within its initial indications but also drive its expansion into other high unmet need indications and earlier lines of treatment, as well as neoadjuvant setting.
About Zydus
Zydus Lifesciences Ltd. with an overarching purpose of empowering people with freedom to live healthier and more fulfilled lives, is an innovative, global lifesciences company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets a broad range of healthcare therapies.
The group employs 27,000 people worldwide, including 1,400 scientists engaged in R & D, and is driven by its mission to unlock new possibilities in lifesciences through quality healthcare solutions that impact lives. The group aspires to transform lives through path-breaking discoveries. Over the last decade, Zydus has introduced several innovative, first-in-class products in the market for treating unmet healthcare needs with vaccines, therapeutics, biologicals and biosimilars.
For more details visit: www.zyduslife.com.
LinkedIn: @ZydusUniverse
Instagram: @ZydusUniverse
About Agenus
Agenus Inc. is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company committed to developing immune therapies that effectively combat cancer. Leveraging proprietary scientific platforms, the company’s pipeline includes multiple checkpoint antibody candidates, vaccines, and cell therapies. Headquartered in Lexington, MA, Agenus operates globally, driving innovations to bring better cancer treatments to patients.
For more details visit: www.agenusbio.com.
About Botensilimab (BOT)
Botensilimab (BOT) is a human Fc enhanced CTLA-4 blocking antibody designed to boost both innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune responses. Its novel design leverages mechanisms of action to extend immunotherapy benefits to “cold” tumors which generally respond poorly to standard of care or are refractory to conventional PD-1/CTLA-4 therapies and investigational therapies. Botensilimab augments immune responses across a wide range of tumor types by priming and activating T cells, downregulating intratumoral regulatory T cells, activating myeloid cells and inducing long-term memory responses.
Approximately 1,200 patients have been treated with botensilimab and/or balstilimab in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. Botensilimab alone, or in combination with Agenus’ investigational PD-1 antibody, balstilimab, has shown clinical responses across nine metastatic, late-line cancers. For more information about botensilimab trials, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
About Balstilimab (BAL)
Balstilimab is a novel, fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) designed to block PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) from interacting with its ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2. It has been evaluated in >900 patients to date and has demonstrated clinical activity and a favourable tolerability profile in several tumour types.
Contact Information
Zydus Lifesciences Limited
| Sujatha Rajesh Media Relations sujatha.rajesh@zyduslife.com +91-9974051180 | Arvind Bothra Investor Relations arvind.bothra@zyduslife.com +91-7045656895 |
