Seattle Genetics Inc. [NASDAQ: SGEN] said its revenues for the first quarter 2015 were $82.2 million, compared to $68.2 million for the same period in 2014. The revenues for the first quarter included $48.9 million in net sales for Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) in the U.S. and Canada. Net loss for the first quarter was $21.7 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, in 2015 compared to $16.3 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, in 2014. Wall Street expected a net loss of $0.19 a share and revenues of $74.4 million for the quarter.

First quarter 2015 revenues also included royalty revenues of $11.1 million on international sales of Adcetris by Takeda Pharmaceutical [TSE:4502], compared to $12.7 million for the same period in 2014. First quarter 2014 royalty revenues included a $5 million sales milestone payment from Takeda. In addition, revenues include amounts earned under the company’s Adcetris and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) collaborations totaling $22.2 million in the first quarter of 2015.

Adcetris is an ADC targeted to the protein CD-30, which is expressed in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL). In August 2011, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved intravenous Adcetris infusion for two indications, the treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or after failure of at least two prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimens in patients who are not ASCT candidates, and the treatment of patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) after failure of at least one prior multi-agent chemotherapy regimen.

Seattle Genetics has collaborations for its ADC technology with a number of leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie [NYSE:ABBV], Agensys (an affiliate of Astellas Pharma [TSE:4503]), Bayer [OTC-ADR:BAYRY], Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline [NYSE-ADR:GSK] and Pfizer [NYSE:PFE].

The company received milestone payments under ADC collaborations with companies utilizing Seattle Genetics technology, including AbbVie, triggered by its initiation of a phase 2 clinical trial for an anti-EGFR ADC for glioblastoma and Bayer, triggered by its initiation of a phase 1 clinical trial for an anti-FGFR2 ADC for solid tumors.

According to Yahoo Finance, the stock has a one-year price target of $44.64 per share. Seattle Genetics will release its second-quarter 2015 earnings report on July 29 - August 3. Wall Street is expecting revenues of $78.2 million, up 14.6% year-on-year, and a net loss of $0.21 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.14 per share in the second-quarter 2014.

Disclosure: No position in SGEN with no recommendation.