Adaptive Biotechnologies Makes Big Market Debut
Author By Sophia VidaPosted on Shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies were exploding this week as the company made its debut on Thursday.
The stock soared 95% above its offer price at the open on Thursday, making it the bst post IPO pop of the year for an offer-to-open basis.
Adaptive Biotechnologies provides tests used to diagnose and treat diseases and trades under the ticker symbol ADPT. The Seattle company is seeking to use the genetics of the immune system in life-sciences research and drug development.
On Wednesday Adaptive had priced an IPO of 15 million shares at $20, exceeding the estimated range of $18 to $19 a share and an earlier estimate of $15 to $17. The underwriters have a 30-day option on 2.25 million more shares at the IPO price.
Adaptive says its technology “reads and translates the genetic code of the adaptive immune system to develop personalized diagnostics and therapeutics” for individual patients.
One company won big with this IPO and that’s Microsoft.
In late 2017, Microsoft invested in the experimental health-care company. The value of Microsoft’s $45 million investment at $10.67 a share has almost quadrupled.
Adaptive has agreed to spend a minimum of $12 million on Microsoft’s Azure over seven years, according to its IPO prospectus.
“We believe deeply in the potential for this partnership with Adaptive and have made a substantial financial investment in the company,” Peter Lee, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI and research, wrote in a blog post when the agreement was announced. “We have also begun a major research and development collaboration that involves Adaptive’s scientists working closely with our top researchers to use Adaptive’s innovative sequencing technology and Microsoft’s large-scale machine learning and cloud computing capabilities to make deep reading of the immune system a reality.”
Disclaimer: We have no position in Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ADPT) nor Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and have not been compensated for this article.
