Agenus Inc. ( AGEN ) shares are trading higher Tuesday after the company announced it signed a partnership agreement with Zydus Lifesciences to expand patient access to Botensilimab and Balstilimab.

What To Know: As part of the agreement, Zydus will pay $75 million to Agenus ( AGEN ) in exchange for its biologics manufacturing assets. Agenus ( AGEN ) may also receive up to $50 million in contingent payments tied to future production orders.

Zydus will use the acquired facilities in California as its flagship U.S. sites for biologics contract manufacturing, launching a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (BioCDMO) to serve global biopharma clients. Agenus ( AGEN ) will be Zydus' first customer under an exclusive manufacturing agreement for BOT/BAL.

In addition, Agenus ( AGEN ) will grant Zydus an exclusive license to develop and commercialize BOT and BAL in India and Sri Lanka, with Agenus ( AGEN ) receiving a 5% royalty on net sales in those regions.

As part of the collaboration, Zydus will also make a $16 million strategic equity investment in Agenus ( AGEN ) by purchasing approximately 2.1 million shares of common stock at $7.50 per share.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Agenus ( AGEN ) to advance BOT/BAL, which has the potential to benefit thousands of patients in our core markets of India and Sri Lanka annually and millions of solid tumor patients globally. We plan to run clinical trials testing BOT/BAL in both early-stage and late-stage disease, along with expansion beyond colorectal cancer to other major disease settings like triple negative breast cancer,” said Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director at Zydus Lifesciences Ltd.

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AGEN Price Action: At the time of writing, Agenus ( AGEN ) stock is trading 24.4% higher at $5.11, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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