The story
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)
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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. 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.
2010
2 February: initiation of phase I combination clinical trial of brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35) for Hodgkin lymphoma
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.
2020
The company announced its corporate name change to Seagen Inc.
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 $43 billion. 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.
From Wikipedia’s article on Seagen, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6