SGEN Seagen Inc

By Dave Sebastian 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2020).

Merck & Co. said it is investing $1 billion in Seattle Genetics Inc., as the companies collaborate on developing and selling Seattle Genetics' breast-cancer treatments.

Merck said it is buying five million shares, or 2.9% of shares outstanding, at about $200 a share. Seattle Genetics shares closed 2.5% higher to $149.97 Friday. Seattle Genetics shares rose 2.6% in premarket trading Monday.

Seattle Genetics is also taking a $600 million upfront payment from Merck and is eligible for milestone-related payments of up to $2.6 billion, the companies said Monday.

The companies said they would work on Seattle Genetics' ladiratuzumab vedotin, a drug currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for breast cancer and other tumors. They said they would collaborate on evaluating the drug as a monotherapy in combination with Merck's Keytruda.

Seattle Genetics has also granted Merck an exclusive license to sell the Tukysa drug for the treatment of breast cancers that test positive for a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, the companies said, in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions outside the U.S., Canada and Europe. Seattle Genetics will take a $125 million upfront payment from Merck and is eligible for milestone-based payments of up to $65 million, the companies said.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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