Seagen inks deal with Dutch biotech to develop and commercialize drug candidate

Seagen has inked a deal to develop, manufacture and commercialize an experimental immuno-oncology agent from Lava Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Utrecht, Netherlands. Seagen will pay Lava $50 million upfront to exclusively license Lava-1223, a “bispecific T cell engager” designed to direct certain T cells to tumors via the target EGFR on cancer cells. Seagen will also pay Lava up to $650 million in future milestone payments and has the option to exclusively negotiate rights to apply Lava’s platform to two other tumor targets. The deal, announced Monday, comes a month after talks over a potential acquisition of Bothell, Wash.-based Seagen by Merck reportedly stalled over the price.