NEEDHAM, Mass. — March 2, 2026 — Leads & Copy — Candel Therapeutics, Inc. (Candel) (Nasdaq: CADL) announced on February 28, 2026, that the Compensation Committee of its Board of Directors granted a new employee stock options to purchase 20,000 shares of the company’s common stock at an exercise price of $5.25 per share.
The inducement stock options were granted under the company’s 2025 Inducement Plan and will vest with respect to 25% of the shares on the first anniversary of the employee’s start date. The remaining 75% will vest in 36 equal monthly installments. Vesting is contingent upon the employee’s continued service with Candel.
The awards were granted as an inducement for the employee to join Candel, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), and were granted pursuant to the terms of the Plan, which was adopted by the Board on December 24, 2025.
Candel Therapeutics is focused on developing off-the-shelf multimodal biological immunotherapies. The company has two clinical-stage multimodal biological immunotherapy platforms based on genetically modified adenovirus and herpes simplex virus (HSV) gene constructs.
Aglatimagene besadenovec (CAN-2409 or aglatimagene) is the lead product candidate from the adenovirus platform. Candel recently completed phase 2a clinical trials of aglatimagene in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial in localized prostate cancer, conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment agreed with the FDA. The FDA has also granted Fast Track Designation, Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation to aglatimagene for the treatment of newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer in patients with intermediate-to-high-risk disease, Fast Track Designation in NSCLC, and both Fast Track Designation and Orphan Drug Designation to aglatimagene for the treatment of PDAC.
Linoserpaturev (CAN-3110) is the lead product candidate from the HSV platform and is currently in a phase 1b clinical trial in recurrent high-grade glioma. The trial is evaluating the effects of repeat linoserpaturev injections. Initial results were published in Nature and Science Translational Medicine, and linoserpaturev received Fast Track Designation and Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA.
Candel’s enLIGHTEN™ Discovery Platform is a systematic, iterative HSV-based discovery platform creating new viral immunotherapies for solid tumors.
Source: Candel Therapeutics, Inc.
