Candel Therapeutics Appoints Renowned Pancreatic Cancer Expert, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, M.D., to Research Advisory Board

By: Candel Therapeutics via GlobeNewswire

March 18, 2025 at 08:00 AM EDT

NEEDHAM, Mass., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Candel Therapeutics, Inc. (Candel or the Company) (Nasdaq: CADL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing multimodal biological immunotherapies to help patients fight cancer, today announced the appointment of Elizabeth M. Jaffee, M.D., to the Company's Research Advisory Board (RAB). Dr. Jaffee, an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology and pancreatic cancer, brings her extensive expertise to the RAB, which is important in light of the Company’s focus on borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Jaffee currently serves as the Dana and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli Professor of Oncology, Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program. Her research focuses on developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer, with recent work concentrating on biomarker-driven immunotherapy clinical trials to understand complex inflammatory signals within the tumor microenvironment.

Dr. Jaffee is a past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and served as co-chair of the Biden Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel. She also currently serves as Chief Medical Advisor to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research and is the inaugural director of the Convergence Institute for Integrating Technologies and Computational Sciences at Johns Hopkins. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and previously served as chair of President Biden's Cancer Panel.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Jaffee to our high profile Research Advisory Board,” said Paul Peter Tak, M.D., Ph.D., FMedSci, President and CEO of Candel. “Her deep expertise in pancreatic cancer and immunotherapy aligns perfectly with our mission, particularly as we advance our CAN-2409 program in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer following our recent positive survival data. Dr. Jaffee's insights will help in guiding the design of our late-stage, potentially registrational clinical trial of CAN-2409 in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.”

About Candel Therapeutics

Candel is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing off-the-shelf multimodal biological immunotherapies that elicit an individualized, systemic anti-tumor immune response to help patients fight cancer. Candel has established two clinical stage multimodal biological immunotherapy platforms based on novel, genetically modified adenovirus and Herpes simplex virus (HSV) gene constructs, respectively. CAN-2409 is the lead product candidate from the adenovirus platform. Recently, the Company announced positive, statistically significant topline data for CAN-2409 based on a large, randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 clinical trial of CAN-2409 in localized prostate cancer. In the Company’s randomized phase 2a clinical trial of CAN-2409 in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, positive survival data showed notable improvement in estimated median overall survival of 31.4 months after experimental treatment with CAN-2409 plus standard of care versus only 12.5 months in the control group in patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, who received only standard of care. Median survival post-progression was 21.2 months in patients who received CAN-2409 compared to 7.2 months in the control arm.

CAN-3110 is the lead product candidate from the HSV platform and is currently in an ongoing phase 1b clinical trial in recurrent high-grade glioma. Finally, Candel’s enLIGHTEN™ Discovery Platform is a systematic, iterative HSV-based discovery platform leveraging human biology and advanced analytics to create new viral immunotherapies for solid tumors.

For more information about Candel, visit: www.candeltx.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain disclosures that contain “forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, without limitation, express or implied statements regarding the timing and advancement of current and future development programs; expectations regarding early biological readouts as predictor of clinical response; and expectations regarding the therapeutic benefit of the Company’s programs, including the ability of its programs to treat a broad range of solid tumors and improve patient survival. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “target” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those risks and uncertainties related to the timing and advancement of development programs; expectations regarding the therapeutic benefit of the Company’s programs; that final data from the Company’s pre-clinical studies and completed clinical trials may differ materially from reported interim data from ongoing studies and trials; the Company’s ability to efficiently discover and develop product candidates; the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of product candidates; the Company’s ability to maintain its intellectual property; the implementation of the Company’s business model, including strategic plans for the Company’s business and product candidates; and other risks identified in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and subsequent filings with the SEC. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date.

Investor Contact:
Theodore Jenkins
VP, Investor Relations and Business Development
Candel Therapeutics, Inc.
tjenkins@candeltx.com

Media Contact:
Ben Shannon
ICR Healthcare
CandelPR@icrhealthcare.com