Expert Financial Analysis and Reporting

Back From BIO CEO Conference I have returned from spending two days at the BIO CEO conference at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Through attending presentations or one on one meetings,  I heard presentations from Advanced Cell Technology ACTC), Advaxis (ADXS), Agenus (AGEN), Alexion (ALXN) , Alkermes (ALKM), Aradigm (ARDM), Athersys (ATHX), Celator […]

In my writing, I have found that there are some very smart people out there who have interesting questions and perspectives. I have decided to periodically share with subscribers questions asked of me and my response. Also, I will include comments on my articles that I find informative. This is the purpose of SmithOnStocks Mailbox. […]

Can Cancer Vaccines Work? The issue of whether cancer vaccines are viable therapeutic candidates has been hotly debated by investors. A long string of previous cancer vaccine trial failures has led to widespread pessimism on Wall Street. There are some widely followed bloggers who are extremely negative on cancer vaccines and maintain (wrongly) that no […]

Purpose of This Report Agenus issued a press release on December 16, 2013 in regard to the final results of a phase II trial of Prophage G-200 in recurrent glioblastoma based on an article in the journal Neuro-Oncology, the official journal of the Society of Neuro-Oncology. This was an open-label, single-arm, phase II study. Patients […]

Putting Malaria Vaccine Results in Perspective for Agenus Glaxo (GSK) has just released interim (18 month) results on its phase III trial conducted in sub-Saharan Africa for its malaria vaccine, RTS,S; this follows previous interim reports at 6 and 12 months. The results are not as good as the results normally seen with childhood vaccines […]

Report Overview Adam Feuerstein launched a withering attack on Agenus (AGEN) and me in his column. The gist of the article is that Agenus is misrepresenting data pertaining to the use of Prophage in glioblastoma in ways that overstate Prophage’s efficacy and I am naively buying into this. It was a very short note on […]

Reason for This Report Agenus (AGEN) just issued an update on a phase II trial of Prophage G-100 combined with current standard of care in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients that showed median overall survival (OS) of 23.3 months. There was no control group in the study but data from recent trials suggests that OS with […]

Investment Thesis Glaxo (GSK) announced today that the trial of their MAGE A-3 cancer vaccine in the DERMA trial in stage IIIb/c melanoma did not meet its endpoint of progression free survival. Agenus’ QS-21 adjuvant is a component of this vaccine and Agenus would be entitled to a royalty upon commercialization. Agenus’ stock traded down […]

Investment Overview I initiated coverage of Agenus (AGEN) with a Buy on July 17, 2013 based on the pending release of clinical trial data on five development programs over the next three quarters. Each of these events, some more than others, has the potential to boost the stock at the time the data is reported. […]

Key Value Drivers for Agenus Through 2015 I am initiating coverage of Agenus with a Buy. This basic report goes into detail on its two core technology platforms: (1) the heat shock protein technology that is the basis of therapeutic and preventive vaccines for cancer and infectious disease, and (2) the QS-21 Stimulon adjuvant that […]