Company: Seattle Genetics ($SGEN)
Based: Bothell, WA
R&D budget: $146.4M (€109.1M)
Change from 2009: +22.9%
Net sales spent on R&D: 136%

The past two years have marked a sea change for Seattle Genetics, which grabbed the industry's attention early on with its innovative antibody-drug conjugates. That period was capped with success when its lymphoma drug brentuximab vedotin (originally SGN-35, now sold as Adcetris) was approved for Hodgkin's lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma and is now on the market, earning $10 million in its first month.

Like Human Genome Sciences and Dendreon, Seattle Genetics is finding that it's not so easy transitioning from a developer into a commercial player with a pipeline--particularly when your new treatment costs $13,500 per dose. The company not only refuses to offer guidance--probably a wise move, given the often rough experience that new drugs can experience in the hands of insurers and providers-but it's also actively hiding data on new orders to keep analysts from speculating on its success in grabbing market share.

Seattle Genetics has no intention to stay a one-product company. SGN-75 is in a Phase I trial for renal cell carcinoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. ASG-5ME is an early-stage antibody-drug conjugate aimed at pancreatic and prostate cancer. Just two months ago, the biotech announced plans to partner with Oxford BioTherapeutics on finding new antibody-drug conjugates for cancer.

Seattle Genetics reportedly spent more than a half billion dollars on R&D before it won its first approval. By focusing on a smart strategy, delivering a cancer-fighting payload right where it's needed, it's likely to find the next approval won't cost quite as much.