TopoTarget pays Celldex Therapeutics $3M sublicense income over Belinostat co-development agreement

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX) today announced that it has received a sublicense income payment of $3 million from TopoTarget A/S (NASDAQ-OMX: TOPO.CO) as a result of the recent co-development and commercialization agreement between TopoTarget and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI) for Belinostat, a novel histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor for the treatment of cancer. In this transaction, TopoTarget granted Spectrum a license for the co-development and commercialization of Belinostat in North America and India, with an option for the Chinese rights, in exchange for an upfront cash payment of $30 million.

Based on an April 2008 agreement in which a Celldex-acquired company, CuraGen Corporation, sold the Belinostat rights to TopoTarget, Celldex is entitled to, among other provisions, 10% of any sublicense income received by TopoTarget for Belinostat up to $6 million in the aggregate. Celldex acquired CuraGen in October 2009. Under the April 2008 agreement, TopoTarget assumed all financial and operational responsibility for the clinical development of Belinostat.