Seattle Genetics, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Albany Molecular Research, Inc. for cGMP manufacturing of the proprietary drug-linker system employed in its SGN-35 product candidate.

SGN-35 is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) composed of an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody stably linked to a highly potent auristatin derivative using Seattle Genetics' second generation ADC technology. The company had announced it was issued a US patent covering the cell-killing drug component used in SGN-35.

"This manufacturing campaign is an important step toward our goal of initiating clinical trials of SGN-35 early next year, initially as a treatment for Hodgkin's disease," commented Clay B. Siegall, president and CEO of Seattle Genetics.

Seattle Genetics has also established a preferred provider relationship with Albany Molecular that enables licensees of Seattle Genetics' ADC technology to work directly with Albany Molecular to obtain cGMP supplies of drug-linkers to support clinical trials of their own ADC products. Seattle Genetics has licensed its industry-leading ADC technology to Genentech, UCB Celltech, Protein Design Labs, CuraGen, Bayer and MedImmune.