Adaptive Biotechnologies, which develops technology to assess the immune response, posted $154.3 million in revenue last year, a 57% year-over-year increase.
The number was revealed in the Seattle-based company’s fourth quarter earnings report. Revenue is increasing faster than operating expenses, which were $363.3 million in 2021, a 45% increase from 2020.
Net loss for 2021 came in at $207.3 million, up from $146.2 million in 2020.
Adaptive reported revenue of $37.9 million in the fourth quarter, up 26%, with a net loss of $61.4 million, up from $44.6 million.
In a call with analysts Tuesday, CEO Chad Robins highlighted several milestones from 2021.
- Emergency use authorization of the company’s T cell-based COVID-19 test in March. More than 30,000 tests have been ordered.
- $10 million in milestone payments from pharma partners using data from Adaptive’s “minimal residual disease” clonoSEQ blood cancer tests.
- Delivery of more clonoSEQ tests and the addition of new customers. More than 22,500 tests were delivered, up 48% from 2020.
- A 90% increase in sequencing revenue from 2020 to $78.9 million in 2021.
- Progress on a key collaboration with Genentech, searching for new T cell receptors to test as therapies. The ongoing collaboration yielded a potential therapeutic candidate.
- Progress on a collaboration with biopharma company Nykode Therapeutics to support the development of a T-cell based COVID-19 vaccine. Nykode has started early-stage clinical trials.
Adaptive is also moving forward with developing T cell-based tests for other conditions, including the completion of its first clinical validation study of a test for Lyme disease. Tests for five autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, including Crohn’s disease, are in earlier stages of development.
The new tests will be made in the mold of the company’s COVID-19 test. “Not only are we building a lab, we’re building all the software and data infrastructure to be able to essentially launch test after test with the exact same system,” said Robins, who founded the company with his brother Harlan Robins in 2009. Adaptive, a spinout from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, went public in 2019.
Adaptive expects revenue in 2022 to rise to between $185 and $195 million. Its stock value is down sharply from a high early in 2021, roughly mirroring an overall market decline in biotech. At the end of last year, the company had $570.2 million available in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
