Adaptive Biotechnologies Is Developing a New Test to Identify COVID-19 Immunity

by Gordon Gottsegen
November 11, 2020
Adaptive Biotechnology cofounders
Adaptive Biotechnologies cofounders Chad Robins (left) and Harlan Robins. | Photo: Adaptive Biotechnologies

A Seattle-based biotech company is working on a new way to identify people who have successfully recovered from COVID-19, which may be a key step to overcoming the virus as a nation.

The company is Adaptive Biotechnologies, which researches the adaptive immune system in order to develop products that can diagnose or treat diseases.

On Tuesday, the company reported its financial results of Q3. Highlights include $26.3 million in revenue (which is a 25 percent jump from the previous quarter), the delivery of 4,023 clinical tests to customers, the identification of two successful antibodies to help combat SARS-CoV-2 and promising results from its COVID-19 T-cell study.

That last piece of information is good news for the company, but also for the general public. Adaptive is currently working on the launch of its T-Detect COVID-19 test, which can identify the T-cells that have helped people infected with SARS-CoV-2 overcome the virus.

You may have heard of the COVID-19 antibody tests that are currently on the market. Antibodies are an important part of your body’s immune system, and help fight off viruses. However, research shows that the antibodies that you produce to fight COVID-19 might only last for about three months.

But that doesn’t mean your body isn’t ready to fight off the novel coronavirus if it ever gets exposed again, and that’s partially thanks to T-cells, which are another essential part of the immune system.

Adaptive’s research shows that T-cells can play an important role in determining COVID-19 immunity because they stick around much longer than antibodies. So Adaptive created its T-Detect test in order to spot them.

“While antibodies have been a mainstay of measuring the immune response to vaccines, for COVID-19, it is becoming clear that the T-cell response is necessary for a complete picture of immunity,” Harlan Robins, the company’s chief scientific officer and co-founder, said in a statement. “Adaptive’s proven immune medicine platform is designed for the quantitative sequencing and mapping of T-cells at scale from a simple blood draw and can be incorporated seamlessly into clinical trials.”

In addition to its Q3 milestones, the company also announced a new partnership with British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. This partnership will allow GSK to use Adaptive’s clonoSEQ Assay across its hematology and oncology portfolio.

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Jobs at Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp.

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