Argos Therapeutics, Inc. (ARGS)

Argos Therapeutics was a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Durham, North Carolina, that developed individualized immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. Its Arcelis platform used a patient's own tumor RNA and dendritic cells to produce a personalized treatment intended to train the immune system to attack the disease. The company's work grew out of research at Duke University.

Argos went public on Nasdaq in February 2014. Its most advanced product, rocapuldencel-T (also known as AGS-003), was tested together with standard targeted therapy in the Phase 3 ADAPT trial for patients with newly diagnosed metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The company also pursued an HIV immunotherapy program and built manufacturing capacity in North Carolina in anticipation of commercial launch.

In 2017 an independent monitoring committee concluded that the ADAPT trial was unlikely to show an overall survival benefit, and the final analysis did not rescue the program. Argos cut most of its workforce, discontinued the trial in 2018 and explored strategic alternatives. With little cash left and its stock trading well below a dollar, the shares were removed from Nasdaq in 2018.

Argos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2018. Most of its assets, including the Arcelis technology and related manufacturing, were sold to SCM Lifescience and Genexine of South Korea. The case was later converted into a Chapter 7 liquidation, and the company ceased operations in 2019 without any recovery for common stockholders.