Pfizer Inc. is pulling out of an agreement with Celldex Therapeutics Inc. to fund the development of an experimental brain tumor vaccine. Celldex shares fell the most in almost two years.
The vaccine called rindopepimut, or CDX-110, is “no longer a strategic priority of Pfizer,’’ which will return the rights to the therapy to Celldex on Nov. 1, Needham-based Celldex said yesterday.
The treatment is in the second of three stages of testing generally required to win US regulatory approval. New York-based Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug maker, licensed rights to the product in 2008 from Celldex for as much as $440 million, plus royalties. If approved, the brain cancer vaccine could have $450 million in peak annual sales and come on the market in 2013, Joseph Pantginis, an analyst at Roth Capital, said in May.
“We see this as a tremendous opportunity for Celldex, our shareholders, and patients,’’ Celldex chief executive Anthony Marucci said yesterday on a call with investors. “We believe rindopepimut is very well-positioned to advance into pivotal clinical studies.’’
