NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2017 / Shares of Seattle Genetics closed higher on Thursday as more traders digested the big news from the company earlier in the week when it announced that it will be co-developing Tisotumab Vedotin with Genmab. Shares of Novartis also saw gains after the FDA approved the use of the company's gene therapy in the U.S. The therapy has seen amazing results in a clinical trial in fighting a rare form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Seattle Genetics, Inc.
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=SGEN

Novartis AG
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=NVS

Seattle Genetics, Inc.'s shares closed up 5.52% on Thursday with about 2 million shares traded. The biotech company didn't have any significant news yesterday but earlier in the week it was announced that Seattle Genetics and Genmab would be co-developing Tisotumab Vedotin for solid tumors. Tisotumab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting tissue factor, is currently being evaluated in Phase I/II clinical studies in solid tumors The companies originally entered into a collaboration agreement back in 2011 but has now decided to exercise a co-develop option tisotumab vedotin at the end of Phase I clinical development.

Genmab CEO Jan van de Winkel Ph.D., commented, "The combination of Genmab's differentiated HuMax®-TF antibody and Seattle Genetics' clinically-validated antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology has resulted in encouraging preliminary data for tisotumab vedotin in selected solid tumors. We very much look forward to working with Seattle Genetics to further develop this exciting first-in-class ADC product."

Seattle Genetics President Clay Siegall Ph.D., commented, "Our ADC partnership with Genmab has generated promising Phase I/II data for tisotumab vedotin in patients with recurrent cervical cancer. As Seattle Genetics opts into co-development of this clinical program, we add another potential product to our strong pipeline. Together with Genmab, we look forward to advancing tisotumab vedotin for the treatment of solid tumors."

Access RDI's Seattle Genetics, Inc. Research Report at:
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=SGEN

Novartis AG's shares closed up almost 2% on Thursday with nearly 5.3 million shares traded. It was a day in the green for the Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company yesterday, after closing in the red on Wednesday. The FDA approved on Wednesday a novel approach to treating leukemia that has cleared the way for the company's gene therapy called Kymriah. It has already produced amazing results in patients with a rare form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The price tag for one treatment is $475,000 which some analysts have called a bargain. Novartis' gene therapy, called CAR-T, is now the first to be available in the country. It harvests patients' white blood cells and rewires them to attack tumors. The treatment has been approved for children and young adults up to the age of 25. In a clinical trial, one dose of the treatment resulted in 83% of the patients in the trial being cancer-free after three months. Dr. Tim Cripe, an oncologist with Nationwide Children's Hospital has remarked, "I think this is most exciting thing I've seen in my lifetime."

Access RDI's Novartis AG Research Report at:
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=NVS

Our Actionable Research on Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) and Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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