Dive Brief:
- Cancer biotech Seattle Genetics, Inc. has acquired its first in-house manufacturing plant, buying a 51,000 square foot facility in Bothell, Washington from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
- Per deal terms, Seattle Genetics will pay $43.3 million for the site and related manufacturing equipment. The biotech said it has agreed to hire the roughly 75 employees currently employed by Bristol-Myers at the Bothell plant.
- Up until now, Seattle Genetics has relied on contract manufacturers for production of Adcetris and other drug products currently in clinical trials. The biotech said the facility would primarily be used for antibody manufacturing to support its antibody-drug conjugate and immuno-oncology pipeline.
Dive Insight:
While Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) is available in 67 countries for relapsed forms of Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma, Seattle Genetics has relied on AbbVie, Sigma Aldrich Fine Chemicals and others for its manufacturing needs.
Acquiring the Bothell site, known as the Monte Villa Parkway Research Center, will give the biotech greater control of its supply chain along with further flexibility to respond to emerging production needs as its pipeline evolves.
That pipeline includes nine other cancer therapeutics across various stages of clinical development, including two in collaboration with the Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc.
"This turnkey manufacturing facility provides the capability, capacity and skilled workforce needed to support our expanding antibody-drug conjugate and immuno-oncology pipeline, and complements our existing outsourced manufacturing model," said Vaughn Himes, chief technical officer at Seattle Genetics.
Himes also highlighted the site's proximity to its corporate headquarters and existing technical operations team as an added benefit to the deal.
While sales of Adcetris have grown, mixed trial results and a decision to halt further work on a candidate for acute myeloid leukemia have dented the company's share price in recent months. And investors didn't appear pleased by the company's second quarter results, sending the stock down a further 11% since the numbers were released last Thursday.
Total product revenues rose by 12% compared to a year prior, but the company's net loss widened by 72% on the back of higher R&D and administrative costs.
As for Bristol-Myers, the pharma has sold off other manufacturing assets this year, divesting an Irish active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility to Korean biotech SK Biotek, one of its long-term suppliers.