How Clay Siegall rose to the top of the biomedical industry
Over the last 30 years, no single name stands out above that of Clay Siegall in terms of contributions made to the field of targeted cancer therapies. Throughout a superlative career spanning more than 35 years, Dr. Siegall has contributed more than any single person to this exciting new line of cancer research. Through the discovery and implementation of antibody drug conjugates, one of the most cutting-edge cancer treatments currently available, Dr. Siegall has completely transformed the way that cancer is treated today.
While still in undergraduate school, Dr. Clay Siegall first became aware of the horrendous side effects normally associated with traditional chemotherapeutic regimens. After a family member was diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Siegall was shocked to realize that the side effects of the chemotherapy itself are often worse than the disease. This proved to be true in the case of Dr. Siegall’s relative, who nearly died of anemia secondary to a large dose of chemotherapy being infused into his bloodstream. This gave Dr. Siegall the impetus that led him on to become a leading cancer researcher throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
After graduating with an MS from the University of Maryland in biology and a PhD in genetics from George Washington University, Dr. Siegall was eventually recruited by the National Cancer Institute, one of the most prestigious institutions for research and development of new cancer drugs and treatment in the world. Over the course of the next four years, Dr. Siegall worked on some of the most cutting-edge treatments in the world. These included a variety of different targeted cancer therapies and other types of precision medicine that promised to nearly completely eliminate the side effects associated with traditional chemotherapy regimens.
After spending four years at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Siegall was recruited by pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb. There he continued to work on many highly innovative lines of drugs. This included the first synthesis of a line of drugs known as antibody drug conjugates, which use synthetic human antibodies to deliver lethal cytotoxins directly to the site of malignancies.
By the year 1998, he decided to leave Bristol-Myers Squibb and form his own company. Called Seattle Genetics, his firm was the first dedicated solely to the research and development of antibody drug conjugates.