SEATTLE GENETICS AND PSMA ANNOUNCE ANTIBODY-DRUG CONJUGATE DEAL

Seattle Genetics has entered into an agreement under which it will license its proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology to PSMA Development (PDC), a joint venture between Progenics Pharmaceuticals and Cytogen.

The license provides PDC with rights to utilize the ADC technology to link cell-killing drug payloads to PDC's fully human monoclonal antibodies that target prostate-specific membrane antigen, which is highly expressed on both primary and metastatic prostate cancer cells.

Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, PDC will pay Seattle Genetics a $2 million upfront fee for access to the technology for use with antibodies targeting the PSMA antigen. PDC has also agreed to make progress-dependent milestone payments and pay royalties on net sales of resulting ADC products. PDC is responsible for research, product development, manufacturing and commercialization of all products under the collaboration. Seattle Genetics will receive material supply and annual maintenance fees as well as research support payments for any assistance provided to PDC in developing ADC products.