Celldex Presents Data on New Product Candidate, CDX-1140, a Novel CD40 Agonist Antibody
Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) presented data on new product candidate CDX-1140, a fully human antibody targeted to CD40 that has demonstrated potent agonist activity. Found on antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, macrophages and B cells, CD40 is a key activator of the immune response. The data were presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting (SITC) on Saturday, November 12 in a poster titled “Functional characterization of CDX-1140, a novel CD40 antibody agonist for cancer immunotherapy.” CDX-1140 is expected to be ready to enter clinical studies in 2017.
“The CD40 pathway plays a critical role in the activation of innate and adaptive immune responses,” said Tibor Keler, Ph. D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Celldex Therapeutics. “We believe an ideal CD40 immunotherapy candidate should have the right balance of agonist activity and safety profile to allow systemic dosing at levels that provide good tissue and tumor penetration. The data presented at SITC show that CDX-1140 has a unique profile to meet this goal relative to other CD40 agonist antibodies and will be an important addition to our growing immunotherapy pipeline.”
The poster features detailed analyses of the preclinical data and is available on the “Publications” page of the “Science” section of the Celldex website. Key findings include:
CDX-1140 binds CD40 with high affinity and specificity and does not block CD40 ligand binding
CDX-1140 has an unmodified IgG2 backbone and demonstrates potent agonist activity independent of Fc receptor interactions
CDX-1140 demonstrates direct anti-tumor activity in immune-deficient mice challenged with human lymphomas
Pharmacological activity was observed in vivo with minimal evidence of toxicity
Celldex is currently performing manufacturing and IND-enabling studies to support Phase 1 dose-escalation studies. The Company believes that the potential for CDX-1140 will be best defined in combination studies with other immunotherapies or conventional cancer treatments.
