Seattle Genetics Announces ADCETRIS® Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for Conditional Approval in European Union

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Seattle Genetics, Inc. (SGEN) today announced that its collaborator, Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, has received a positive recommendation from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the conditional marketing authorization of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) for two indications: (1) the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) following autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or following at least two prior therapies when ASCT or multi-agent chemotherapy is not a treatment option, and (2) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL). ADCETRIS is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30.

The positive opinion from CHMP and broad label recommendation is a key step in the European regulatory process for ADCETRIS and brings us closer to our goal of making this important new therapy globally available to patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma or systemic ALCL, said Clay B. Siegall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Seattle Genetics. If approved in the European Union, ADCETRIS will represent the first new therapeutic advance for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma patients in several decades and further validates the potential of ADCs in the treatment of cancer.

The European Commission, which has the authority to approve medicines for use in the European Union, generally follows the recommendations of the CHMP and typically renders a final decision within three months of the CHMP opinion. If the CHMP recommendation is formally adopted by the European Commission, ADCETRIS would be approved for marketing in all 27 member states of the European Union.

European Commission approval will trigger two milestone payments, one for each indication, totaling $25 million to Seattle Genetics under the collaboration agreement between Seattle Genetics and Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. Seattle Genetics is also entitled to tiered double-digit royalties with percentages starting in the mid-teens and escalating to the mid-twenties based on net sales of ADCETRIS within Millenniums territories, subject to offsets for royalties paid by Millennium to third parties.

About ADCETRIS

ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) is an ADC comprising an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody attached by a protease-cleavable linker to a microtubule disrupting agent, monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), utilizing Seattle Genetics proprietary technology. The 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.

ADCETRIS received accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2011 for relapsed HL and sALCL.

Seattle Genetics and Millennium are jointly developing ADCETRIS. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Seattle Genetics has U.S. and Canadian commercialization rights and the Takeda Group has rights to commercialize ADCETRIS in the rest of the world. Seattle Genetics and the Takeda Group are funding joint development costs for ADCETRIS on a 50:50 basis, except in Japan where the Takeda Group will be solely responsible for development costs.

About Seattle Genetics

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Seattle Genetics Announces ADCETRIS® Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for Conditional Approval in European Union