Seattle Genetics Starts Clinical Trial of SGN-70 For Autoimmune Disease

Seattle Genetics, the Bothell, WA-based developer of targeted antibody drugs, said today it has started an early-stage clinical trial to look at safety of SGN-70 in 60 healthy volunteers. The drug is designed to block CD70, a protein found in abundance on activated white blood cells, but not resting cells. The target has been linked to autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system goes haywire and attacks healthy tissues. Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]) is also developing antibodies for cancer, including SGN-35, which we profiled last month.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.