Immuno-oncology company Agenus Inc (NASDAQ:AGEN) on Monday announced that Incyte has made a cash milestone payment of USD5m for the initiation of its Phase 1 clinical trial of INCAGN2385.

INCAGN2385 is reportedly an anti-LAG-3 antibody discovered by Agenus under its partnered programme with Incyte, a biopharmaceutical research company.

Based on this milestone agreement, Agenus is eligible to receive up to another USD505m in potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones from Incyte.

Under the terms of the agreement, Incyte has exclusive rights to fund and conduct global development and commercialisation of four disclosed antibody candidates, LAG-3, TIM-3, GITR and OX40 and one undisclosed candidate, under which, Agenus is eligible to receive milestone and royalty payments.