Pfizer Buys Seagen for $43B, Boosts Access to Cancer Drugs

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Pfizer is spending about $43B to reach deeper into new cancer treatments that target tumor cells while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. The pharmaceutical giant said it will pay $229 in cash for each share of Seagen Inc. Pfizer then plans to let the biotech drug developer “continue innovating,” except with more resources than it would have alone

Pfizer has said it intends to maintain Seagen’s sites in the Seattle area and in south San Francisco, said David Caouette, a Seagen spokesperson. That commitment includes a 270,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Everett expected to open in 2024.

Seagen, which employs about 1,800 people in the Seattle area and 1,500 elsewhere, specializes in working with antibody-drug conjugate, or ADC, technology. Its key products use lab-made proteins called monoclonal antibodies that seek out cancer cells to help deliver a cancer-killing drug while sparing surrounding tissue.