Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Celldex sells poultry vaccine biz

By Mass High Tech staff

Celldex Therapeutics Inc., a developer of vaccines and antibodies, has announced plans for Lohmann Animal Health (LAH) International to buy Celldex’s poultry vaccine business. Needham-based Celldex (Nasdaq: CLDX)  intends to focus on its human vaccine products instead, company president and CEO Anthony S. Marucci said in a statement.

LAH, based in Winslow, Maine, is a manufacturer and supplier of poultry biologics for the vaccine markets and has performed these duties on Celldex’s Megan Vac 1 and Megan Egg poultry vaccines. The company paid Celldex an undisclosed amount for the business.

The sale of Celldex’s poultry vaccine business comes after the company’s November announcement of its third quarter earnings for 2008, which included a $7.7 million net loss — almost double the $4.1 million net loss reported for Q3 2007.

Celldex merged with Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. on October 1, a deal originally agreed upon early in 2008 for an estimated $129.3 million in stock. At that time, the company also made former interim president and CEO Marucci the permanent president and CEO of Celldex. Former Avant CEO Una Ryan left her position after the merger.