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Adaptive Bio, Biogen Ink Deal Aimed at Autoimmune Disease Biomarkers

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Adaptive Biotechnologies announced today a deal with Biogen Idec aimed at autoimmune disease biomarkers.

Adaptive's immune profiling assay called immunoSeq will be used to characterize immune repertoire samples from patients suffering from autoimmune disorders with high unmet medical needs, the firm said. The assay uses high-throughput next-generation sequencing to characterize the repertoire of T- and B-cell receptors, which can be used to monitor the immune status of patients with autoimmune diseases and to assess how treatments affect the immune system.

Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Partnering with Biogen Idec fits squarely with Adaptive's dual commitment to a deeper understanding of complex diseases as well as to finding better means to treat them," Chad Robins, CEO and founder of Adaptive, said in a statement.

The company, a spinout of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, operates a CLIA-certified laboratory in Seattle and will begin accepting clinical samples this year, it said. Last month, Adaptive announced a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for use of immunoSeq to discover immunological biomarkers in cancer, and later this year it plans to launch clonoSeq, a clinical assay to measure and monitor minimal residual disease in blood-based cancers.

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