Seattle Genetics signs GSK licensing deal for $400 million
This article was originally published in Scrip
Seattle Genetics has agreed a $400 million licensing deal with GlaxoSmithKline for its antibody-drug conjugate technology. The end-of-year collaboration pushes Seattle Genetics' deal-making activity for 2009 above $1 billion.
The US biotech will receive $12 million up front for allowing GSK to use its technology platform with several undisclosed antigens. Seattle Genetics is also eligible for up to $390 million in milestones as well as royalties on sales of marketed products.
GSK will take responsibility for R&D, manufacturing and commercialising all antibody-drug conjugates developed. The firm will also pay Seattle Genetics a yearly maintenance fee and research support payments.
The technology allows synthetic pharmaceuticals to be attached to antibodies through stable linker systems, which release the drug under specific conditions once inside the target cell. Seattle Genetics believes that this approach could reduce the toxicity of traditional chemotherapy.
The agreement with GSK increases Seattle Genetics' licensing revenue for 2009 to more than $35 million and the company now has nine licensees for its technology.
The collaboration is its second big pharma partnership announced this month. Last week, the firm agreed a $390 million deal with Takeda and its oncology subsidiary, Millennium, for its antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (scripnews.com, December 16th, 2009).
Back in November, Agensys, a subsidiary of Astellas, agreed to extend its collaboration with Seattle Genetics for the development of several antibody-drug conjugates for up to $350 million (scripnews.com, November 24th, 2009).