Celldex Rose on Phase 2 Melanoma Data

On June 6, 2016, Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX) was one of the top gainers in the small-cap segment of the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB). It rose 6.6% and outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which rose 0.5% for the day. The stock rose after Celldex announced its Phase 2 melanoma data.

In a press release, Celldex announced “results from a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating CDX‑1401 and CDX‑301 in patients with malignant melanoma, which was conducted by the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN) under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Celldex and the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program of the National Cancer Institute.”

The release went on to say, “CDX‑1401 is an NY‑ESO‑1-antibody fusion protein for immunotherapy, and CDX‑301 (recombinant human Flt3 ligand) is a potent hematopoietic cytokine that uniquely expands dendritic cells and hematopoietic stem cells. Results from the study were presented at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology ([or] ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago in a poster titled ‘A Phase 2, Open-label, Multicenter, Randomized Study of CDX‑1401, a Dendritic Cell Targeting NY‑ESO‑1 Vaccine, in Patients with Malignant Melanoma Pre-Treated with CDX‑301, a Recombinant Human Flt3 Ligand.'”

Celldex closed at $4.86 and was trading above the 20-day moving average. Celldex has fallen 69% on a year-to-date basis. Its trading volumes were at ~3.7 million shares compared to the three-month average trading volume of ~4 million shares per day.

Celldex has a book value of $2.63 per share. At its current price, the stock is trading at a price-to-book value of ~1.9x. The company has a weight of ~0.1% in IBB’s portfolio.

PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) was another stock that performed well, rising 7.6%. The stock bounced back from the previous day’s loss of 8.4%. On the other hand, Immunomedics (IMMU) was the most underperforming stock among IBB small-caps, falling 13.7%. We covered this in detail in the first part of this series.

In the final part of this series, we’ll see what the moving average trend is for IBB’s holdings.