A new translational research agreement has been struck between Pfizer and Adaptive Biotechnologies to leverage next-generation gene sequencing in immuno-oncology. This partnership is particularly focused on using combined drug development and biomarker expertise to get a read on patients’ immune responses, thereby making it possible to identify those that would benefit from cancer immunotherapy, and which immunotherapy would be most appropriate for each individual.

According to Adaptive, its T-cell and B-cell receptor-profiling immunosequencing platform quantitatively and with repeatability measures immune response. The companies hope that, between Pfizer’s biomarker technology platform and Adaptive’s sequencing expertise, the collaboration will yield a powerful translational instrument for immune-mediated cancer therapy.

Adaptive’s immune repertoire sequencing process can be used on a broad array of specimens and uses pretreatment samples to identify and sequence high-frequency clones. Post-treatments, those targeted sequences are used to detect minimal residual disease in blood or marrow, giving it an edge over flow cytometry.

“The collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies supports our strategy of accelerating the development of potentially innovative new combination treatments by allowing us to develop a differentiated and competitive understanding of the immune landscape in specific tumor types,” said Pfizer Oncology vice president and head of early development, translational and immuno-oncology Chris Boshoff.
 

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