Seattle Genetics Presents Interim Phase1 Clinical Data From SGN-CD19A

(RTTNews) - Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN) presented interim phase 1 clinical data from SGN-CD19A, an antibody-drug conjugate or ADC in development for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 7-10, 2013.

SGN-CD19A is an ADC targeting CD19, a protein expressed uniformly on almost all B-cell malignancies. ADCs are monoclonal antibodies that are designed to selectively deliver cytotoxic agents to tumor cells. This approach is intended to spare non-targeted cells and thus reduce many of the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy while enhancing antitumor activity, the company said

According to the company, the phase 1 trial evaluating SGN-CD19A has demonstrated encouraging early antitumor activity and a generally well-tolerated safety profile among heavily pretreated patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and very aggressive types of lymphoma.

In addition, multiple complete remissions have been observed in a parallel phase 1 study evaluating SGN-CD19A in aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Dose-escalation is ongoing in both phase 1 clinical trials, and it plans to report additional data during 2014, the company noted.