Celldex Therapeutics presents CDX-1127 antibody program at AACR Annual Meeting

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLDX) today announced that CDX-1127, a preclinical therapeutic antibody program for oncology indications, is the subject of a poster presentation at the 2010 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 101^st Annual Meeting in Washington DC. The presentation (poster #5343) is entitled "Development of Novel Anti-CD27 Human Antibodies with Therapeutic Potential", and describes preclinical in vitro and animal data with candidate antibodies for clinical development. The presentation is scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EDT today in Exhibit Hall A-C at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

“Development of Novel Anti-CD27 Human Antibodies with Therapeutic Potential”

CDX-1127 is a human monoclonal antibody program targeting CD27, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily. Previously published data by Professor Martin Glennie, PhD., Director of Cancer Sciences, Tenovus Research Laboratory, University of Southampton, UK, has demonstrated that targeting CD27 with monoclonal antibodies in mice is highly effective at promoting anti-cancer immunity.

Key findings presented in the poster demonstrate that Celldex:

• Generated and characterized a panel of fully human anti-CD27 monoclonal antibodies (mAb);
• Developed mice with transgenic expression of human CD27. These transgenic mice were shown to be suitable to evaluate the therapeutic potential of candidate therapeutic antibodies;
• Using the CD27-transgenic mice, demonstrated that the human anti-CD27 mAb enhanced antigen-specific T cells activation and proliferation;
• Using the CD27-transgenic mice, demonstrated that the human anti-CD27 mAb increase the numbers of functional antigen-specific T cells responding to immunization with a dendritic cell-targeted vaccine; and
• Showed that human anti-CD27 mAb inhibited the growth of human tumor cells expressing CD27 in a mouse tumor model.

"Demonstrating that targeting CD27 receptors with our antibodies can increase the numbers of responding T cells and can directly impact tumor cells expressing CD27 was a critical step for us in translating this program towards human clinical studies," said Tibor Keler, Ph.D., Celldex Therapeutics' Chief Scientific Officer.

"The CDX-1127 antibody program demonstrates our development capabilities, and will add to our growing pipeline of product candidates in our Precision Targeted Immunotherapy Platform," added Anthony S. Marucci, President and Chief Executive Officer of Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.