The search for a COVID-19 cure: Amgen and Adaptive Biotech partner in quest for new drug
Chad Robins, left, is co-founder and CEO of Adaptive Biotechnologies, which he co-founded with his brother, Harlan Robins, right, a theoretical physicist turned computational biologist who is the company’s chief scientific officer. (Adaptive Biotechnologies Photo)
Pharmaceutical giant Amgen is aiming to develop a new drug to treat and prevent COVID-19, using insights from Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies’ system for sequencing the human immune system, under an expanded partnership announced by the companies Thursday morning.
In an extraordinary move, Adaptive and Amgen say they are beginning work immediately, even before finalizing financial details and other terms of the partnership.
“Our strong history of collaboration with Adaptive gives us the ability to immediately mobilize our combined resources to help address the urgency in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Amgen CEO and Chairman Robert Bradway in a statement. “Working with Adaptive and using their viral-neutralizing antibody platform will expedite our ability to bring a promising new medicine into clinical trials as quickly as possible.”
Adaptive says it will use its platform to identify naturally occurring antibodies in the immune systems of COVID-19 survivors to find those that neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. Amgen will then use those findings to develop therapies to treat COVID-19, and potentially prevent the disease among those with a greater risk of exposure, including health care workers.
The companies say the goal is “to accelerate the development of a potential antibody against COVID-19 as fast as possible for patients in need.” They did not give a specific timeline.
Adaptive was founded in 2009 by brothers Chad Robins, a Cornell grad and Wharton School MBA, and Harlan Robins, longtime head of the Computational Biology Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The company, which also has major partnerships with Microsoft and Genentech, went public last year and employed more than 450 people as of the end of last year.
Adaptive stock is up 2 percent in early trading, and Amgen is up 2.5 percent.
