Date: Apr 06, 2015 Source: Reuters (
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Celldex Therapeutics Inc:Announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2 safety pilot and expansion study examining the investigational combination of varlilumab and ipilimumab (Yervoy(); Bristol-Myers Squibb) in patients with Stage III or IV metastatic melanoma.Varlilumab is Celldex's fully human monoclonal antibody that targets CD27, a critical co-stimulatory molecule in the immune activation cascade.Ipilimumab, a recombinant, human monoclonal antibody that blocks CTLA-4, is FDA approved for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma.In the Phase 2 portion of the study, patients with tumors that express NY-ESO-1 will also receive CDX-1401, Celldex's off-the-shelf antibody-based dendritic cell vaccine that targets tumors expressing the NY-ESO-1 oncoprotein.
