March 18, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SEATTLE – Adaptive Biotechnologies tapped former Johnson & Johnson executive Diego Miralles as president of its new San Diego-based Adaptive Therapeutics division, which will focus on development of drugs for cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, the company announced Thursday.
“Adaptive’s ground-breaking technology has created a substantial opportunity in the broad immune-based therapeutics space,” Miralles said in a statement. “I am passionate about the potential to positively impact patient outcomes and I am excited about the biological possibilities that such a technology enables. I see this as a great chance to make a difference to patients with currently unaddressed medical needs.”
Miralles comes to Adaptive after more than a decade at Johnson & Johnson where he helped the company launch its satellite business incubator programs, such as JLabs and the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center.
Chad Robbins, president of Adaptive Biotechnologies, praised Miralles for his leadership abilities, as well as his reputation for developing drug therapies, particularly in the treatment of HIV, including the development of the HIV antivirals Prezista and Intelence.
“We are looking forward to his experienced insight and strong leadership as he builds clinically impactful therapeutic programs for Adaptive. I truly believe that Diego’s enthusiasm, scientific intellect, executive-level leadership, personal industry relationships and drug development experience will help propel Adaptive to the next level,” Robbins said in a statement.
Miralles, an infectious disease specialist, will provide both scientific and commercial guidance to the existing and future programs and partnerships that Adaptive will implement, the company said. At Adaptive Therapeutics, Miralles will lead company efforts to leverage its best-in-class platform for identifying T- and B-cell receptors for use in therapies that will impact patient outcomes. Adaptive has not announced the specifics of what the new model will be doing. Whatever they plan, the company will have significant financing to support those goals. In May of last year, the company raised $195 million in Series F financing. The funding, led by Matrix Capital Management, came after a spate of funding rounds that provided more than $400 million to the company.
The company plans to launch its new drug division on the back of a new cellular sequencing that pairs T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha and beta chain sequences at high throughput. The company’s new sequencing technology, called pairSEQ Assay, enables highly accurate, rapid and scalable pairing of up to hundreds of thousands of TCR alpha or beta sequences in a single experiment and can be applied to the process of therapeutic discovery, including the identification of highly promising TCRs for adoptive T-cell therapy, the company said. A T Cell is one of the body’s first lines of defense against pathogens. It is a type of white blood cell at the core of adaptive immunity.
After the funding round, Robins said the money will be used to “hire a world-class team to integrate this ground-breaking technology into drug development efforts focused on leveraging the immune system to treat many diseases, starting with cancer.” While Miralles was a big score for Adaptive, the company continues to look to fill several positions. Adaptive’s website also shows a number of positions open, such as production associates, project management and science positions.
