Celldex receives milestone payment

Celldex Therapeutics Inc., a Needham biopharmaceutical company that until this week was known as Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., said today that it has received a $10 million milestone payment from an affiliate of Paul Capital Healthcare.

The payment was triggered by the US market launch of Rotarix, a rotavirus vaccine that is marketed worldwide by GlaxoSmithKline plc, or GSK, the British pharmaceutical giant, Celldex said. Rotavirus is a common cause of severe diarrhea and dehydration in infants and children, according to the Avant website.

In 2005, Avant entered into an agreement whereby an affiliate of Paul Capital Healthcare purchased an interest in the net royalties that Avant will receive on worldwide sales of Rotarix, according to Avant's website.

Paul Capital Healthcare is a firm with offices in New York that invests in healthcare companies.

In a statement today, Celldex president and chief executive Anthony S. Marucci said: "We are thrilled that GSK has successfully launched Rotarix in advance of the rotavirus season, enabling infants to receive this important vaccination in the coming months. We are also pleased to receive this final milestone payment from Paul Capital Healthcare and will use the proceeds to advance our ongoing clinical programs and to support the creation of additional novel disease-specific drug candidates through our proprietary Precision Targeted Immunotherapy Platform."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)