AVANT completes merger with Celldex

Massachusetts, USA-based AVANT Immunotherapeutics says it has completed the merger of Callisto Merger Corp, its wholly-owned subsidiary, with and into Celldex Therapeutics, resulting in the combined company which will continue to be named AVANT and trade under the Nasdaq ticker symbol AVAN.

"We are extremely pleased that our shareholders recognized the intrinsic value of this merger and believe that with the closing of this transaction we have built a strong, diversified company," said Una Ryan, chief executive of AVANT. "We look forward to making substantial progress in the development of our portfolio of immunotherapy candidates and communicating this progress to our shareholders throughout the year. We thank them for their continued support," she added.

"The combined company is built on mutual expertise in developing novel immunotherapy products and brings together an exceptional management team with proven experience in all aspects of drug development. We believe that these key attributes create a strong combined company to realize the potential of our novel immunotherapy candidates," said Charles Schaller, former chairman of Celldex, and now holding this position in AVANT.