Celldex Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2008 Financial Results - Conference Call Friday, February 27, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time - NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2008 Financial Results

Conference Call Friday, February 27, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time -

NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 27, 2009--Celldex

Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX) today reported financial results for

the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008. Celldex reported a

net loss of $7.5 million, or $0.47 per share, for the fourth quarter of

2008 compared to a net loss of $4.2 million, or $0.51 per share, for the

fourth quarter of 2007. For the year ended December 31, 2008, Celldex

reported a net loss of $47.5 million, or $3.34 per share, compared to a

net loss of $15.1 million, or $1.81 per share, for the year ended

December 31, 2007. On March 7, 2008, privately-held Celldex

Therapeutics, Inc. completed its merger with a wholly-owned subsidiary

of AVANT Immunotherapeutics and, effective October 1, 2008, AVANT

changed its name to Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.

The 2007 financial results reflect the activities of pre-merger,

privately-held Celldex only. As discussed in further detail later in

this release, the change in net loss between the three-month periods was

primarily due to increased operating expenses as a result of the merger

of AVANT and Celldex, offset by increased revenues, investment and other

income. The increase in net loss between fiscal years reflects increased

operating expenses for the combined companies and non-cash charges of

$19.6 million, or $1.38 per share, relating to $14.8 million of

purchased in-process research and development and $4.8 million of

stock-based compensation expense.

At December 31, 2008, Celldex reported cash and cash equivalents of

$44.3 million. This amount includes a $10.0 million milestone payment

received during the fourth quarter from Paul Capital Healthcare upon

GlaxoSmithKline's U.S. launch of Rotarix . The Company believes that its

cash and cash equivalents and expected sources of revenue will be

sufficient to meet estimated working capital requirements and fund

operations through 2010.

"We believe our Precision Targeted Immunotherapy platform has the

ability to open a new era in immunotherapy and potentially address a

number of difficult-to-treat diseases," said Anthony S. Marucci,

Celldex's President and Chief Executive Officer. "To this end, in 2008,

we made significant progress advancing this platform and our pipeline,

including entering into a substantial partnership with Pfizer and

completing multiple strategic licensing arrangements to access

synergistic technologies to enhance our core technology. At the same

time we sold or out-licensed non-core assets to narrow our strategic

focus. In 2009, we remain focused on advancing our ongoing clinical

trials in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and in breast, colorectal,

pancreatic, ovarian and bladder cancers and will move additional

candidates from our Precision Targeted Immunotherapy Pipeline into

clinical trials in the third quarter. Likewise, the strength of our cash

position allows us to continue to explore in-licensing and business

development opportunities that we believe support the discovery,

development and commercialization of targeted immunotherapies."

Fourth quarter and recent highlights:

Amended the ongoing ACT III clinical trial for CDX-110 in patients

with newly diagnosed GBM to convert the study to a single-arm Phase 2

clinical trial in which all patients receive the study medication in

combination with the current standard of care, temozolomide. ACT III

will continue to enroll to approximately 60 patients. The Company's

decision to amend was based on the observation that the majority of

patients randomized to the control (temozolomide alone) arm withdrew

after learning they were not on the active arm of this open-label

Announced initial results from multi-center Phase 1 clinical trials of

its cancer vaccine candidate, CDX-1307, combined with GM-CSF in

patients with advanced breast, lung, bladder or pancreatic cancers.

Based on the safety and immunogenicity seen in these dose escalation

studies, the Company intends to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial of

CDX-1307 in combination with selected TLR agonists in the second half

Entered into a license agreement with the University of Southampton,

U.K., to develop human antibodies towards CD27, a potentially

important target for immunotherapy of various cancers.

Received a $10.0 million milestone payment from Paul Capital

Healthcare on October 1, 2008, triggered by GlaxoSmithKline's U.S.

market launch of Rotarix .

Divested non-core assets-entered into a worldwide fee- and

royalty-bearing exclusive license and development agreement with

Vaccine Technologies, Inc. (VTI) to develop and commercialize

Celldex's CholeraGarde and ETEC vaccine programs and sold our poultry

Further Financial Highlights

The net loss of $7.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2008 increased

$3.2 million when compared to the net loss for the same period in 2007.

The 2008 net loss reflected an increase in operating expenses, which

includes the combined operations of AVANT and Celldex post-merger,

offset in part by an increase in revenues and an increase in investment

and other income when compared to 2007. Research and development (R&D)

expenses in the fourth quarter of 2008 increased by $6.0 million

compared to R&D expenses in 2007 due primarily to increased

personnel-related expenses, royalty and license fee expenses, clinical

trials costs for CDX-110 and CDX-1307 and facility-related costs.

General and administrative (G&A) expenses of $2.9 million in 2008

approximated G&A expense of $3.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The twelve-month results for 2008 reflect an increase of $32.4 million

in net loss compared to the same period in 2007. The increase in net

loss reflects an increase in operating expenses due primarily to the

combined operating expenses of the two companies from March 8 to

December 31, 2008, and includes non-cash charges of $14.8 million for

purchased in-process R&D and $1.6 million and $3.2 million for

stock-based compensation expense in R&D and G&A expense, respectively.

The increase in operating expenses also resulted from higher G&A

expenses, which is primarily due to increases in personnel-related

expenses and professional services costs for the combined companies. The

increase in net loss was offset in part by an increase in investment and

Revenues for 2008 increased by $6.0 million compared with revenues for

2007. The increase in product development and licensing revenue in 2008

primarily reflects recognition of $2.9 million in Pfizer deferred