that solid tumors—the vast majority of cancer types, such as lung, breast, and colon—“have some aspects that are very challenging,” said Harlan Robins. For example, solid tumors develop “microenvironments” around themselves that confound the immune system. And the proteins in solid tumors that are open to attack are sometimes present in normal, healthy tissue, too, presenting a safety hurdle.
“We have reason to believe that infectious disease could have easier biology,” said Harlan Robins. Adaptive announced in May a $195 million fundraising; it will use some of that cash to build out its infectious disease drug program, Chad Robins said.
Meanwhile, other companies are raring to go after solid tumors, with plans to use various kinds of modifications to their souped-up T cells. A trial in ovarian cancer, sponsored by Juno, is in the works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Adaptive could apply pairSEQ and its other in-house skills to help those companies find and modify just the right T cells to attack solid tumors.
The company also plans to apply pairSEQ to monoclonal antibodies, which are now a large segment of the drug business, generating billions of dollars in sales and treating cancers, autoimmune diseases, eye diseases, and more. Antibodies, which are proteins produced by the immune system’s B cells, also have two arms, or chains, that latch onto pathogens. Harlan Robins said that pairSEQ work on antibodies is about six months behind the T cell work, but Adaptive should start partnering with companies to help with antibody discovery in 2016.
