- Agenus Inc. (AGEN, Financial) and Noetik announce collaboration to leverage AI in detecting biomarkers for cancer treatment.
- Focus is on enhancing the efficacy of BOT/BAL immuno-oncology therapies using Noetik's virtual cell foundation models.
- Effort aligns with national priorities to expand personalized cancer treatment access and improve patient outcomes.
Agenus Inc. (AGEN), a leader in immuno-oncology, and Noetik, an AI-driven biotechnology firm, have entered into a research collaboration aimed at accelerating precision cancer therapies. The partnership focuses on developing AI-enabled predictive biomarkers for Agenus's lead clinical stage immuno-oncology combination therapies, botensilimab (BOT) and balstilimab (BAL).
This collaboration utilizes Noetik's OCTO virtual cell model, a sophisticated AI system trained on one of the world's largest multimodal spatial datasets. This includes data from nearly 200 million tumor and immune cells, encompassing spatial proteomics, transcriptomics, pathology, and DNA genotyping. The goal is to enrich clinical efficacy by identifying which patients are most likely to respond positively to the BOT/BAL treatment.
Historically, the BOT/BAL combination has demonstrated deep and durable clinical responses across a variety of tumor types, including colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, particularly in tumors that are resistant to prior immunotherapies. By deploying Noetik's virtual cell models, the collaboration aims to simulate tumor behavior and analyze complex biological data to uncover actionable biomarkers that indicate treatment efficacy.
Ron Alfa, M.D., Ph.D., CEO & Co-Founder of Noetik, emphasized the importance of enhancing clinical efficacy in drug development through AI models, while Garo Armen, Chairman and CEO of Agenus, highlighted the potential of this collaboration to improve trial outcomes and patient therapies. This approach aligns with FDA and national efforts to advance precision medicine and more equitable cancer care.
