A target discovery agreement to identify disease-specific T-cell receptors (TCRs) in rheumatoid arthritis

A data licensing agreement to access Adaptive’s proprietary TCR-antigen datasets for research and development in multiple immunology applications

SEATTLE, Dec. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ADPT), a commercial stage biotechnology company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease, today announced two non-exclusive agreements with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to leverage Adaptive’s proprietary T-cell receptor (TCR) discovery capabilities and large-scale immune receptor antigen mapping data. 

Discovering disease-causing TCRs in rheumatoid arthritis

Adaptive has identified autoreactive or ‘offender’ TCRs that could potentially cause disease in patients with autoimmune indications.

Pfizer will utilize Adaptive’s immune medicine platform to identify disease-causing TCRs as potential therapeutic targets in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Under this agreement, Adaptive will apply its platform to Pfizer’s clinical samples to identify the subset of common TCRs that are significantly enriched in RA patients. Pfizer will use these data to accelerate its research and development of potential therapeutic candidates for RA.

Licensing Adaptive’s TCR-antigen datasets

Adaptive has generated what it believes is the largest and highest quality TCR-antigen binding dataset relative to what is publicly available. Under this agreement, Pfizer has licensed certain Adaptive TCR-antigen data for its use in developing and training Pfizer’s AI and machine learning models to accelerate research and drug discovery in multiple disease areas.

“Using our AI-enabled immune medicine platform, Adaptive has amassed a treasure trove of immune receptor data along with an enhanced understanding of T-cell biology,” said Chad Robins, chief executive officer and co-founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies. “This deep and well-characterized immune system data has the potential to inform discoveries across immunology programs that may lead to next-generation therapeutics in RA.”

Under the RA agreement, Adaptive will lead target discovery activities to identify disease-specific RA TCRs. Pfizer will be responsible for all development, and commercialization of therapies identified using Adaptive’s target discovery work. Adaptive will receive an upfront payment and may be eligible to receive additional, potential data delivery, development, commercial and sales milestones that could total up to about $890 million.

Under the TCR-antigen data licensing agreement, Adaptive will receive an upfront payment and additional future potential annual licensing fees under this non-exclusive, multi-year data access agreement. Specific financial terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.

About Adaptive Biotechnologies
Adaptive Biotechnologies (“we” or “our”) is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing the inherent biology of the adaptive immune system to transform the diagnosis and treatment of disease. We believe the adaptive immune system is nature’s most finely tuned diagnostic and therapeutic for most diseases, but the inability to decode it has prevented the medical community from fully leveraging its capabilities. Our proprietary immune medicine platform reveals and translates the massive genetics of the adaptive immune system with scale, precision and speed. We apply our platform to partner with biopharmaceutical companies, inform drug development, and develop clinical diagnostics across our two business segments: Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and Immune Medicine. Our commercial products and clinical pipeline enable the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. Our goal is to develop and commercialize immune-driven clinical products tailored to each individual patient.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. All statements contained in this release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our ability to achieve any milestones under the RA Agreement, our ability to develop, commercialize and achieve market acceptance of our current and planned products and services, our research and development efforts, and other matters regarding our business strategies, use of capital, results of operations and financial position, and plans and objectives for future operations.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to identify autoreactive TCRs that can cause disease in RA patients, Pfizer’s control over development and commercialization of any potential therapeutics candidates, and other factors that are described under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in the documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. We caution you that forward-looking statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. As a result, the forward-looking statements may not prove to be accurate. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

ADAPTIVE INVESTORS
Karina Calzadilla, Vice President, Investor Relations
201-396-1687
investors@adaptivebiotech.com

ADAPTIVE MEDIA
Erica Jones, Associate Director, Corporate Communications
206-279-2423
media@adaptivebiotech.com