Seattle Genetics, a Bothell, Washington-headquartered biotechnology company, has agreed to purchase Bristol-Myers Squibb’s pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Bothell, Washington.

The facility, known as the Monte Villa Parkway Research Center, is a 51,000-square foot manufacturing and laboratory space built in 2014. Seattle Genetics plans to utilize the facility primarily for antibody production for current and future pipeline programs. As part of the transaction, the company intends to offer employment to the manufacturing facility’s current employees.

“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, PhD, chief technical officer of Seattle Genetics. “In addition, its location near our corporate headquarters will provide operational synergies with our current technical operations team and underscores our strategy for continued growth in Washington state.”

Seattle Genetics’ lead commercial product is Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin), an antibody drug conjugate (ADC), a cancer drug indicated for treating relapsed classical Hodgkin lymphoma and relapsed systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Seattle Genetics is also advancing enfortumab vedotin, an ADC for metastatic urothelial cancer, in a planned trial in collaboration with Astellas and has a pipeline of therapies for blood-related cancers and solid tumors.

According to the company’s 2016 annual filing, it does not currently have internal manufacturing capabilities and relies on corporate collaborators and contract manufacturing organizations to supply product for preclinical development, clinical trials, and commercial supply. It works with contract manufacturers to supply the monoclonal antibody used in Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) and the drug linkers. For its ADC product candidates, multiple contract manufacturers perform antibody and drug-linker manufacturing, and several other contract manufacturers perform conjugation of the drug-linker to the antibody and fill/finish of the drug product. In addition, Seattle Genetics relies on other third parties to perform additional steps in the manufacturing process, including shipping and storage of Adcetris and its product candidates, according to the company’s 2016 report.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2017.

Source: Seattle Genetics