For my story today on Seattle Genetics' deal with Daiichi Sankyo (Read it here) I talked to Seattle Genetics CEO Clay Siegall.

Below are some excerpts from the conversation.

On the company's previous deals to license its antibody drug conjugate technology:

It was a million per target, then 2 million per target, and then we stopped doing deals. People had called us, and we said we're not partnering our technology unless it's (a) 50-50 deal. We did one of those with Agensys ...

... We thought it was worth not doing deals unless they were 50-50 and we are still willing to do 50-50 deals. It's not that easy for someone to say, "Great we'll give you half ownership of that product."

... We were putting our product (SGN-35) in the clinic. We figured if the product worked we were going to be able to command a higher premium for our technology.

On the Daiichi Sankyo deal, which gives Seattle Genetics $4 million upfront, in addition to milestone payments and potential royalties:

(SGN-35 data) looked great so we were able to get a much better premium. The milestones and royalties are all higher than what we did in the past. Substantially...

We decided now, with our clinical data (being) so exciting that we could charge more and we are seeing that we are able to.

On whether there will now be more licensing deals:

I don't want to promise the public that. I don't want to raise expectations that you're going to see lots of these deals. We are talking to companies. I would be surprised if we didn't do any more of these deals.

On the next steps for SGN-35, which is currently in a phase one study:

We're actively working on that... We're getting a huge calling from clinical doctors treating patients who want to be part of the study.

We can only do so much now... What we've said publicly is that we intend to clarify our exact registration pathway before the end of the year.

On other projects in the works:

There are a lot of things we're working on, actually. A lot of different clinical data. More milestone payments. More drug conjugate deals. Partnering deals with our products. That includes SGN-33 and SGN-35 -- if it was the right deal.

(An) outside the US (partnership) is something we are willing to consider for SGN-33 or SGN-35. Potentially one or both with potentially the same company.

On the departure of Paul Carter, Seattle Genetics' vice president of antibody technologies, to VLST. Twelve of Seattle Genetics' 250 employees reported to Carter:

Paul Carter is a very talented scientist and I like him tremendously.

He was not being considered to be the CSO (chief scientific officer) for Seattle Genetics. This was an opportunity to be the CSO of a smaller company.

Paul's entire team was reassigned to another scientist, Dennis Benjamin, who is a very big, upcoming star for us.... It enabled us to give Dennis that next footprint.

We're not replacing Paul's position. Fortunately, we have a cadre of stellar scientists.