Seattle Genetics' Adcetris sales fall short yet again

Despite slow quarter-over-quarter growth, Seattle Genetics CEO Clay Siegall reiterated confidence in the biotech's ability to meet its financial expectations this year. In particular, Siegall cited seasonal market factors as well as the biotech's battle to drive uptake in frontline Hodgkin lymphoma given "entrenched standards of care that have been around for 40 years." Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) last March won approval in combination with chemotherapy for previously untreated patients with Stage 3 or Stage 4 classical Hodgkin lymphoma. The antibody-drug conjugate, first approved in 2011, was also approved for first-line treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma.