Medarex subsidiary Celldex appoints new chief executive officer

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, May 12 - Celldex Therapeutics announced Friday the appointment of Robert Forbes Burns as chief executive officer.

Burns has over 30 years experience in science, technology and business development both in the United States and United Kingdom, and has been instrumental in establishing a number of start-up companies during this time, officials said in a company news release.

Prior to joining Celldex, he was director of the office of technology licensing at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in New York. During his tenure, Burns led the development of the Ludwig's program for forming spin-out companies based on Ludwig intellectual property. New spin-outs included Piramed in Slough, U.K.; Lymphatix in Helsinki, Finland; and Recepta in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

From 1994 through 2002, Burns played a key role in the growth and transformation of Oxford GlycoSciences plc into one of Europe's leading publicly held biotechnology companies, officials said.

He was responsible for generating and negotiating new business deals producing non-milestone related income in excess of $45 million with corporate partners such as Pfizer Inc., and Merck & Co. Inc.

"We look forward to Celldex's further growth under Robert's leadership," Don Drakeman, chairman of Medarex, Inc., said in the release.

Celldex is a Phillipsburg, N.J., biotechnology company focused on development and commercialization of novel immunotherapeutics to treat cancer, infectious diseases and immune system disorders.

Celldex is an operating subsidiary of Princeton, N.J.-based Medarex.

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