HAMPTON, N.J., June 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) today announced the appointment of Diane C. Young, M.D., as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, effective July 8, 2019. Over the span of a 30 year career, Dr. Young, a medical oncologist, has led clinical and cross-functional research and development teams responsible for the global development of numerous novel therapies from Phase 1 through successful product registrations.

"Dr. Young’s notable career and strong track record of successful drug development make her an important addition to Celldex," said Anthony Marucci, Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Celldex Therapeutics. "Her proven leadership will strengthen our clinical development efforts and support the continued progress of our product pipeline.”

"I look forward to working with the Celldex team to advance a novel pipeline that I believe holds significant opportunity for patients and their families," said Dr. Young. "Celldex’s scientific vision and emerging data from the CDX-3379 and CDX-1140 programs make this an exciting time to be joining the organization, and I look forward to helping to advance these compounds and earlier stage candidates to their full potential.”

Dr. Young most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of GTx, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company focused on developing small molecules that target nuclear hormone receptors. Previously, she spent 13 years at Novartis Oncology in senior leadership roles in global clinical development and medical affairs. As the Head of Oncology Clinical Development, she directed the clinical programs leading to successful regulatory approvals for EXJADE^®, GLIVEC^®, FEMARA^®, AFINITOR^®, RYDAPT^®, JAKAVI^® and FARIDAK^® among others. Prior to Novartis, Diane held senior leadership positions in clinical development at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Johnson & Johnson, Hoffman-La Roche and Sandoz.

Dr. Young received her A.B. in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard University and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Her postdoctoral training included an Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Vanderbilt Hospital, followed by an Oncology Fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.

Exjade^®, Glivec^®, Femara^®, Afinitor^®, Rydapt^®, Jakavi^® and Faridak^® are registered trademarks of Novartis.

About Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.

Celldex is developing targeted therapeutics to address devastating diseases for which available treatments are inadequate. Our pipeline includes immunotherapies and other targeted biologics derived from a broad set of complementary technologies which have the ability to engage the human immune system and/or directly inhibit tumors to treat specific types of cancer or other diseases. Visit www.celldex.com.