Seattle Genetics getting $1 billion equity stake as part of deal with US pharma giant

15 September 2020

Shares of US biotech firm Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN) closed up 14.5% to $171.79 on Monday after the company revealed a cancer collaboration with US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) that includes a $1 billion investment in the company and could be worth $4.2 billion in total.

The companies will globally develop and commercialize Seattle Genetics’ ladiratuzumab vedotin, an investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting LIV-1, which is currently in Phase II clinical trials for breast cancer and other solid tumors.

The collaboration will pursue a broad joint development program evaluating ladiratuzumab vedotin as monotherapy and in combination with Merck’s blockbuster anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in triple-negative breast cancer, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and other LIV-1-expressing solid tumors.

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