Seattle Genetics gets $5 million Takeda milestone on EMA acceptance of Adcetris MAA

US biotech firm Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN) says it will receive a $5 million payment under its Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) collaboration with Millennium, a subsidiary of Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical (TSE: 4502).

The milestone was triggered by the European Medicines Agency acceptance of the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for brentuximab vedotin for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Brentuximab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30, the defining marker of Hodgkin lymphoma and ALCL.

“The EMA acceptance of the MAA represents a significant achievement in the development of brentuximab vedotin, and takes us another step closer to our goal of bringing this ADC to relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic ALCL patients in need around the world,” said Clay Siegall, president and chief executive at Seattle Genetics. “We also continue to make progress with brentuximab vedotin in the USA, as we interact with the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] on our two regulatory submissions for these indications. The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will review our Biologics License Applications on July 14, 2011, and the action date is August 30, 2011 under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.”