Bristol Myers writes $200M check for rights to Agenus checkpoint inhibitor

Bristol Myers Squibb building

Bristol Myers Squibb already has a cancer program targeting the TIGIT protein, but in acquiring rights to Agenus’s drug, the pharma giant adds a bispecific antibody that preclinical research suggests has the potential to be the best in this drug class. BMS agreed to pay $200 million up front for global rights.