MabVax Therapeutics Holdings Inc. said it is exploring a sale of its clinical and preclinical assets.

The assets hold "substantial value" but "the cost of execution for continuing development in the near term exceeds our current financial resources," said David Hansen, MabVax president and CEO.

The San Diego-based cancer and pancreatitis drug developer engaged Objective Capital Partners as financial adviser, to help assess options for a potential sale. MabVax intends to complete the sale process by January 2019.

In July, MabVax sold its antibody development program targeting multiple solid tumor cancers to Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. The same month, the company said it will not appeal a delisting decision by Nasdaq, resulting in the suspension of its common stock from the Nasdaq Capital Market.