Noetik and Agenus Present Use of TARIO-2 Foundation Model to Predict Patient Responses to BOT + BAL at ASCO 2026

SAN FRANCISCO – Noetik, an AI-native biotech company pioneering self-supervised machine learning and high-throughput spatial data to develop next-generation cancer therapeutics, presented new research at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2026 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

The poster titled “Artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model as a predictor of efficacy of next-generation checkpoint inhibition with botensilimab (BOT) + balstilimab (BAL) in solid tumors using pretreatment H&E images”, featured as Abstract 2535, Poster 325, highlighted new insights from the use of the foundation model (TARIO-2) as a predictor of efficacy of next-generation checkpoint inhibition with BOT + BAL in solid tumors.

Noetik’s TARIO-2, unlike H&E only models, is pretrained on paired multimodal data (H&E + spatial transcriptomics); this allows TARIO-2 to connect the molecular, structural, and spatial ‘grammar’ of tissue, enabling it to identify the underlying biology of therapeutic response, a task that is out of reach for models that have learned H&E alone.  

Noetik’s Ryan Dalton, Keith Mitchell, Emily Corse, and Ron Alfa attended the ASCO conference to discuss the study and how Noetik successfully trained AI models to infer CosMx from H&E, enabling the prediction of clinical endpoints from H&E alone.

The poster details how these models were then utilized to evaluate efficacy in BOT+BAL patients using pretreatment H&E images from the C-800-01 Phase 1b Trial (NCT03860272). During this evaluation, the foundation model successfully predicted Best Overall Response (BOR) and Overall Survival (OS) across three distinct solid tumor cohorts: MSS mCRC (N=49), sarcomas (N=31), and ovarian cancer (N=23).

These findings demonstrate the transformative potential of AI in accelerating and de-risking oncology therapeutics development.

The abstract will be published in the Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2026 Annual Meeting. ASCO, the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer, is holding its Annual Meeting from May 29-June 2, 2026, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

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