Adaptive TCR Changes Name to Adaptive Biotechnologies

SEATTLE, Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Adaptive TCR Corporation, a leading provider of next generation sequencing assays for the adaptive immune system marketed under the brand name immunoSEQ, announced today it has changed its name to Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation effective immediately.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120103/SF28632LOGO)

The name change reflects the expanded capabilities of the company's original immune profiling business as well as the translation of select research findings from the lab to the clinic.

"Replacing TCR with Biotechnologies better represents the full nature and potential of our products and services," explained Chad Robins, CEO and president of the newly named corporation. "For example, immunoSEQ now offers B-cell receptor sequencing, and we are developing clinical applications for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. The name change is simply a natural evolution of our business."

The growth of immunoSEQ

immunoSEQ was launched in 2010 as the first high-throughput sequencing assay to profile the complete repertoire of T-cells in patients with cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.

Over the past year, the capabilities of this proprietary and groundbreaking immune sequencing platform have been expanded to include B-cell receptor sequencing and additional T-cell loci. Sequencing assays for non-human primates, bovine, and swine are also under development.

Expanding into clinical applications

The growing body of immune profiling research that has been generated by hundreds of studies looking at the impact of the immune repertoire on clinical outcome have led to the development of several clinical applications, specifically in oncology.

These clinical applications include monitoring minimal residual disease in blood-based cancers, a more accurate laboratory measurement for immune reconstitution post transplantation, and a direct measurement of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) as a prognostic indicator of ovarian cancer.

Further, Adaptive is developing threshold tests to stratify patients in clinical trials, as a predictive measure of response to therapeutics and vaccines.

"immunoSEQ is a rapidly growing platform technology that provides fertile ground to move next generation immune sequencing technology into the clinic," commented Robins. "We are developing assays that use a patient's immune profile to inform treatment decisions."

Adaptive Biotechnologies is building a strong patent portfolio as these first-time discoveries are becoming increasingly defensible with accurate and replicable data.

The company intends to make these tools available to as many researchers and clinicians as possible to ensure that the status of a patient's immune system is taken into consideration at the point-of-care.

"Only with this critical information about the immune microenvironment, can genetic testing of a tumor truly be tailored to the individual," said Adaptive's scientific founder Harlan Robins. "A comprehensive lens of the immune repertoire made available by immunoSEQ may be required for the true potential of personalized medicine to be achieved."

All information about the company can now be found at its new web address: www.adaptivebiotech.com.

About Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation and immunoSEQ™

Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation (http://www.adaptivebiotech.com), headquartered in Seattle, WA, is pioneering the field of genomic immunology. The company's core competency is developing next generation sequencing assays that characterize the adaptive immune system, serving as a platform technology to the research community and the biopharmaceutical industry. Its flagship commercial product, immunoSEQ (http://www.immunoSEQ.com), uses a proprietary immune profiling assay to analyze T cells and B cells – critical components of the adaptive immune system's defense against disease – with unprecedented depth and specificity. Sequencing the variable region of these immune cells allows researchers to characterize the complete immune repertoire of a patient or group of patients in search of immunologic biomarkers. Fueled by discoveries from immunoSEQ, the company is currently developing a pipeline of clinical assays that are specific to cancer diagnosis and prognosis. All of Adaptive Biotechnologies' assays are coupled with a cloud-computing infrastructure that simplifies the interpretation of massive quantities of data in a user-friendly interface. immunoSEQ was launched in September 2010 and has a worldwide customer base.

SOURCE Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation