Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) innovation center in California will work with a Seattle diagnostics outfit on a biomarker discovery program geared toward spotting patients most likely to respond to targeted therapies.
The diagnostics company, Adaptive Biotechnologies, announced the agreement. Neither side is discussing financial details. But the deal calls for Adaptive to use its immunoSEQ immune profiling assay to better qualify immune response to certain diseases and also immunology and cancer drugs under development at J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals R&D division.
Their hope: an improved understanding of immune response that will advance the development of new drugs and the identification of patients for whom they will benefit most.
"We are delighted to work so closely with Janssen to further elucidate the role that immune profiling can play in scientific research and drug development," Adaptive founder and CEO Chad Robins said in a statement.
Adaptive is plowing ahead in other immune-related diagnostic areas as well. In September, the company announced it was pursuing plans to test a diagnostic that would screen for cancer patients at risk of dying from infection after cord blood transplants. A $2.53 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is helping to propel this three-year study.
Johnson & Johnson's innovation centers, meanwhile, are expanding. More than a year ago, J&J announced the establishment of four innovation centers in San Francisco, London, China and Boston, to be staffed with experts from its drug, device, diagnostic and consumer units. All have small staffs and the capacity to make strategic development deals. Last June, the conglomerate expanded its innovation center initiative with satellite offices in locales including Israel, Australia and Minneapolis in the U.S.
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