Early years Seattle Genetics was founded in 1997, by Henry Perry Fell, Jr. and Clay Siegall, and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The company completed an initial public offering in March 2001, and prior to its acquisition by Pfizer, it was traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol SGEN, and was a component of the
Nasdaq-100. As of December 2016, the company has more than 900 employees throughout the United States.
2009 :19 February: pivotal trial for
brentuximab vedotin for
Hodgkin lymphoma :18 June: Phase II trial of
brentuximab vedotin for
anaplastic large cell lymphoma :24 July: initiation of re-treatment clinical trial of
brentuximab vedotin :10 August: milestone achievement in collaboration with
MedImmune through initiation of Phase I clinical trial of MEDI-547. :8 September: milestone achievement in collaboration with
Bayer for the submission of investigational new drug application with the FDA :5 October: discontinuation of Phase IIb trial with dazcetuzumab (also known as SGN-40 or huS2C6) for the treatment of diffuse large
B-cell lymphoma :16 November: initiation of Phase I clinical trial for SGN-75 (INN: vorsetuzumab mafodotin) :11 December: termination of collaboration with
Genentech for
SGN-40 :21 December: announcement of new collaboration with
GlaxoSmithKline ($12 million up front payment, up to $390 million in milestone payments) 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. :3 March: milestone achievement under collaboration with
Genentech :8 April: initiation of Phase III trial for
brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35) for post transplant
Hodgkin lymphoma :20 April: $9.5 million payment from
Genentech to extend collaboration :20 July: initiation of Phase I clinical trial of ASG-5ME for treatment of
pancreatic cancer :3 August: expansion of collaboration with
Genentech ($12 million upfront payment, up to $900 million in potential fees and milestone payments) :2 September: milestone achievement in collaboration with Agensys for initiation of Phase I trial of AGS-16M8F :14 September: entry into collaboration with
Genmab :20 October: initiation of Phase I clinical trial of ASG-5ME in prostate cancer treatment
2011 :6 January: entry into collaboration with
Pfizer ($8 million upfront payment, $200+ million in potential milestone payments) :1 March: initiation of Phase I clinical trial of
brentuximab vedotin for use in conjunction with chemotherapy for treatment of systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma :15 March: expansion of collaboration with the
Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Takeda Oncology) :22 March: announcement of collaboration with
Abbott ($8 million upfront payment, plus potential royalties and milestone payments) :11 April: James Fan, SG manager of clinical programming, commits suicide one day after being indicted for
insider trading in Seattle Genetics securities :19 April: expansion of collaboration with
Genmab :19 August accelerated FDA approval for
brentuximab vedotin for use in treatment of
Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) :23 August: initiation of Phase II trial of
ADCETRIS in
CD30-positive
non-Hodgkin lymphoma :9 September: collaboration with Oxford BioTherapeutics :25 October: initiation of Phase II clinical trial of
ADCETRIS in
CD30-positive non-lymphoma malignancies
2012 :4 June: interim Phase I data from ASG-5ME in prostate cancer :5 July: initiation of global Phase III trial of
ADCETRIS against
CD30-expressing cutaneous
T-cell lymphoma :24 August: initiation of Phase Ib trial of SGN-75 (INN: vorsetuzumab mafodotin) for use in combination with
everolimus in patients with
renal cell carcinoma :9 October: milestone achievement under collaboration with
Genentech by advancements of two antibody conjugates into Phase II trials :17 October: initiation of Phase II trial of
ADCETRIS in age 60+
Hodgkin lymphoma patients :23 October: expansion of collaboration with
Abbott (upfront payment of $25 million, milestone payment up to $220 million) :1 November: initiation of global Phase III trial of
ADCETRIS in untreated advanced Hodgkin lymphoma patients :26 November: received
orphan drug designation for
ADCETRIS treatment of
mycosis fungoides 2013 :1 February:
Health Canada approves
ADCETRIS for treatment of relapsed refractory Hodgkin lymphoma :6 February: initiation of two Phase I trials of
SGN-CD19A :25 June: new collaboration with
Bayer :15 July: initiation of Phase I trial of
SGN-CD33A in treatment of
acute myeloid leukemia (AML) :15 August: initiation of Phase II trial of
ADCETRIS for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma :21 October: initiation of Phase I trial of SGN-LIV1A for patients with LIV-1-positive metastatic
breast cancer 2014 :29 September: brentuximab vedotin was successfully used as a consolidation therapy in a late-stage trial for patients with a type of lymphatic cancer. :8 December: Data of Brentuximab Vedotin in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology
2015 :12 January: clinical collaboration with
Bristol-Myers Squibb to evaluate combination of brentuximab vedotin and nivolumab in hematologic malignancies :18 February: Supplemental Biologics License Application (BLA) for Brentuximab Vedotin in Post-Transplant Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients at High Risk of Relapse :8 June: collaboration with Unum Therapeutics to develop and commercialise its new antibody-coupled T-cell receptor (ACTR) therapies for cancer, generating up to $645 million for Unum. :31 December: Adcetris sales increase to $226 million.
2016 :For the year: the company was at the bottom of the Annual Top 25 Biotech Companies for the year as judged by staff of
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. :28 March: the company announces it will develop 12 more drugs, employing another 100 staff.
2022 :In July the press reported Merck & Co. was in advanced talks to acquire Seagen Inc. and was aiming to finalize a purchase of the cancer biotech in the next few weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, in a deal that could be worth roughly $40 billion or more. The expected sellout is expected to materialize in the month of August 2022 with some delay due to Merck being set to report its fiscal second-quarter earnings on July 28.
2023 :In March 2023,
Pfizer agreed to acquire Seagen for a total enterprise value of around $43billion. The acquisition includes the FDA approved medicines
Adcetris for lymphomas,
Padcev for bladder cancers,
Tivdak for cervical cancer and
Tukysa for breast and colorectal cancers as well as Seagen's drug development pipeline. Pfizer later announced that it would abandon its plans to build a large manufacturing facility in
Everett, Washington, which was scheduled to open in 2024. == Product portfolio and pipeline ==