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 (a suburb of Seattle), 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 companys' flagship product Adcetris (Brentuximab vedotin) is commercially available for two indications in 50 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan and members of the European Union. The approval of Brentuximab vedotin makes it the first in a new class of ADCs.

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 SGN-CD19A, an Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting CD19, SGN-CD33A, an ADC targeting CD33, SGN-LIV1A, an ADC targeting LIV-1, SGN-CD70A, an ADC targeting CD70, as well as ASG-22ME and ASG-15ME, ADCs that they are co-developing with Agensys (an affiliate of Astellas), an early-stage privately held biotechnology company based in Los Angeles, focusing on the development of fully human monoclonal antibodies to treat solid tumor cancers in a variety of cancer targets.

Seattle Genetics has collaboration agreements with Takeda Oncology Company (formerly Millennium) 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.

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 (cAC10) 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 (healthy) cells and thus reduce many of the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy while potentially enhancing antitumor activity. (See also vedotins)

Seattle Genetics is also evaluating another ADC technology using a highly potent cytotoxic agent called a pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) dimer that kills cells by a different mechanism than auristatins (monomethyl auristatin E or monomethyl auristatin F). Pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) dimer is currently employed in SGN-CD33A and SGN-CD70A. It is stably linked to an antibody with Seattle Genetics' site-specific engineered cysteines, resulting in uniform drug-loading of two PBD dimers per antibody.

Seattle Genetics was founded in 1997 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. To date, the company has more than 650 employees throughout the United States.

Seattle Genetics was named number twenty-five on the list of Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2016.