The milestone was triggered by Progenics’s initiation of a Phase I clinical trial with its prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
Under the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) collaboration agreement, Progenics has exclusive rights to use Seattle Genetics’s ADC technology with monoclonal antibodies that target PSMA, a protein that is highly expressed on both primary and metastatic prostate cancer cells. Seattle Genetics has received an upfront fee and Progenics pays ongoing technology access and material supply fees.
Seattle Genetics is advancing its own proprietary pipeline of ADC programs, including SGN-35, which is in two Phase I clinical trials for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and other CD30-positive hematologic malignancies.
Based on positive SGN-35 data, the company expects to finalize its SGN-35 development plans, including registration pathway, during 2008 and begin pivotal trials in the first half of 2009. Seattle Genetics is also developing a number of preclinical ADCs, including SGN-75 and an anti-CD19 ADC.
Eric Dobmeier, chief business officer of Seattle Genetics, said: “This is the fourth product utilizing Seattle Genetics’s ADC technology to enter clinical trials, reflecting continued progress by us and our collaborators in advancing ADCs for unmet medical needs in both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.”