Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative, empowered monoclonal antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. The company, headquartered in Bothell, Washington, is the industry leader in antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs, a technology designed to harness the targeting ability of monoclonal antibodies to deliver cell-killing agents directly to cancer cells. Antibody-drug Conjugates are intended to spare non-targeted cells and thus reduce many of the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy, while potentially enhancing antitumor activity. The company's flagship product Adcetris is commercially available for four indications in more than 65 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan and members of the European Union. To expand on the clinical opportunities of brentuximab vedotin, Seattle Genetics is conducting a broad clinical development program to evaluate its therapeutic potential in earlier lines of its approved indications as well as in a range of other lymphoma and non-lymphoma settings. The company is jointly developing brentuximab vedotin in collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. Under the terms of the collaboration, Seattle Genetics has full commercialization rights to brentuximab vedotin in the United States and Canada. Takeda has exclusive rights to commercialize the product candidate in all other countries. In addition to brentuximab vedotin, Seattle Genetics' product pipeline includes enfortumab vedotin, being co-developed with Astellas Pharma, tisotumab vedotin, being co-developed with Genmab, SGN-LIV1A, an ADC targeting LIV-1, and several immuno-oncology agents in phase 1 studies. In January 2018, the business announced it would acquire Cascadian Therapeutics for $614 million.
Collaboration agreements
Seattle Genetics has collaboration agreements with Takeda Oncology Company to develop and commercialize brentuximab vedotin. The company also has collaboration agreements for their ADC technology with a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including, AbbVie, Bayer Celldex Therapeutics, Inc., Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Inc. and PSMA Development Company LLC as well as ADC co-development agreements with Agensys, Inc., an affiliate of Astellas Pharma and Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd.
Technology
MMAE-based
Seattle Genetics' proprietary Monomethyl auristatin E or MMAE-based antibody-drug conjugate technology, employed in brentuximab vedotin, empowers monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer. Brentuximab vedotin, for example, links the chimeric anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody via a protease-cleavable linker to MMAE. This ADC employs a linker system that is designed to be stable in the bloodstream but to release MMAE upon internalization into CD30-expressing tumor cells. This approach is intended to spare non-targeted cells and thus reduce many of the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy while potentially enhancing antitumor activity.
Company history
Early years
Seattle Genetics was founded in 1997, by Clay Siegall, and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The company completed an initial public offering in March 2001, and is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol SGEN. As of December 2016, the company has more than 900 employees throughout the United States.
2009
In 2009, when it appeared that ADCETRIS could reach the market, the company realized that commercial skills would need to be grown in-house and/or acquired. This led to a decision to grow a commercial team to address the United States and Canadian markets, and a marketing collaboration with Takeda to cover the rest of the world. By 2018, however, the company was confident it could conduct a global commercialization venture.
