Takeda's Millenium group has decided to go for another target in partnership with Seattle Genetics utilizing the latters ADC technology. Millenium currently partners with SeaGen on SGN-35 or brentuximab vedotin for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma.
SGN-35 is an antibody drug conjugate or so-called "empowered antibody". The antibody specifically targets the intended cancer cell with a coupled toxic compound to be delivered to kill that cell. SeaGen's SGN-35 and Genetech's T-DM1 both seek to be the first licensed ADC's and there is a lot of excitement for these technologies.
SeaGen says that it now has 10 collaborations on ADC projects and has generated more than $150 M in licensing fees to date -- with more milestones lingering out there as they products make it to market. There are 11 ADCs in clinical development using Seattle Genetics technology. The latest Takeda extension validates the growing interest in the technology. See Xconomy Seattle and Fierce Biotech.
Posted by Bruce Lehr March 15th 2011.
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