Why Agenus Inc. Stock Briefly Popped Today

Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, saw its shares open up 13% higher Monday on trading volumes nearly six times the daily average. The move came in response to its launch of a new immuno-oncology subsidiary called AgenTus Therapeutics, Inc.

The biotech's new venture will focus on the development of adoptive cell therapies, such as chimeric antigen T cell receptor therapies (CAR-T), and T cell receptors (TCRs) designed to treat both solid tumors and various types of blood cancers. Despite that brief double-digit spike, however, Agenus' stock almost immediately began to cool off, fell into the red for a few minutes late in the morning, and as of noon EDT, was trading up by only around 2%.

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Source: Fool.com