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Description of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Description of Business

(1) Description of Business

MiNK Therapeutics, Inc. (“MiNK” or the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel platform of living medicines based on a rare and potent class of immune cells called invariant natural killer T (“iNKT”) cell therapies to treat cancer and other immune-mediated diseases. iNKT cells are a distinct T cell population that combine durable memory responses with the rapid cytolytic features of natural killer cells. iNKT cells offer distinct therapeutic advantages as a platform for allogeneic therapy in that the cells naturally home to tissues, aid clearance of tumors and infected cells and suppress Graft versus Host Disease. MiNK's proprietary platform is designed to facilitate scalable and reproducible manufacturing for off-the-shelf delivery. As such, MiNK believes that its approach represents a highly versatile application for therapeutic development in cancer and immune diseases. MiNK is leveraging its platform and manufacturing capabilities to develop a wholly owned or exclusively licensed pipeline of both native and engineered iNKT cells.

Since its inception in 2017, MiNK has incurred losses and expects to continue incurring operating losses and negative cash flows in the future until it is able to generate sales and profits. As of December 31, 2023, MiNK had an accumulated deficit of $133.4 million and cash and cash equivalents of $3.4 million.

MiNK believes that its cash and cash equivalents balance along with the additional funding received subsequent to year end from its parent, Agenus Inc. (“Agenus”), and funding planned from a third party will be sufficient to satisfy its liquidity requirements for more than one year from when these financial statements were issued. Because the additional funding is influenced by external uncertainties, in accordance with the relevant accounting guidance, the Company is required to disclose that substantial doubt exists about its ability to continue as a going concern for a period of one year after the date of filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes MiNK will continue as a going concern and which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the ordinary course of business.

Management continually monitors MiNK's liquidity position and adjusts spending as needed in order to preserve liquidity. Potential sources of additional funding for the Company include: (1) seeking strategic partnerships and collaborations, as well as out-licensing opportunities, for the Company's portfolio programs and product candidates, (2) exploring avenues for securing non-dilutive financing, such as grants and collaborations to strengthen the Company's balance sheet, and (3) potential of equity or debt financing options. If additional funding is not obtained through these sources, Agenus has indicated a willingness to loan MiNK additional funds to finance its operations.

MiNK’s product candidates are in various stages of development and additional expenditures will be required if the Company starts new trials, encounters delays in its programs, applies for regulatory approvals, continues development of its technologies, expands its operations, and/or brings its product candidates to market. The eventual total cost of each clinical trial is dependent on a number of factors such as trial design, length of the trial, number of clinical sites, and number of patients. The process of obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals for new therapeutic products is lengthy, expensive, and uncertain. Because all of the Company’s programs are at an early stage of clinical development, the Company is unable to reliably estimate the cost of completing its research and development programs or the timing for bringing such programs to various markets or substantial partnering or out-licensing arrangements, and, therefore, when, if ever, material cash inflows are likely to commence.