Denmark's Genmab updates on corporate strategy; licenses ADC technology from Seattle Genetics

Danish biotech firm Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) yesterday announced an update to its corporate strategy saying that, going forward, the company will employ a three-pronged strategic approach:

* Focus on the core competence of identifying the best disease targets and developing unique best-in-class or first-in-class antibodies, and be at the leading edge in developing next generation technologies.
* Turn science into medicine by producing innovative antibodies with significant commercial potential and that make business sense.
* Build a profitable and successful biotech by maintaining a flexible and capital efficient model by maximizing partnership relationships.

The current dominant priorities include: maximizing value from Genmab’s most advanced products ofatumumab, which is already marketed as Arzerra for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and zalutumumab; setting up new strategic partnerships to extract optimal value from its preclinical pipeline and research capabilities using the Utrecht research facility as a profit center, not just a cost center; and establishing new ways to advance and validate next generation technologies like Bispecifics by exploring business models that require limited capital investment by Genmab while retaining optimal access and upside.