The Promise Of ADCs Create Increased Interest In Oncology

By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company has been working in the ADC (antibody-drug conjugate) space for over a decade, and have established a specific expertise and strong market presence in the development and commercialization within this drug category. In 2009, Millennium and Seattle Genetics entered into a global co-devlopment and commercialization partnership for Adcetris® for intravenous infusion in two indications: The treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or after failure of at least two prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimens in patients who are not ASCT candidates and patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) after failure of at least one prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimen. Adcetris gained US approval in 2010.  Petter Veiby, senior director of Biotherapeutics, believes this has drawn a lot of attention to ADCs and demonstrated their value to the patient population.