Immuno-oncology player Adaptimmune ($ADAP) has dipped into the ranks of its Big Pharma partner GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) to find a leader for its biometrics team. The move sees Trupti Trivedi join Adaptimmune as VP, head of biometrics, a position that gives her responsibility for bioinformatics, computational programming and other tasks across all of the company's development programs.
Trivedi joins Adaptimmune after spending almost 20 years at GSK, in which time she held roles in the biometrics department during her rise to the position of VP, business strategy, R&D. Jumping ship to Adaptimmune makes biometrics, the focus of more than half of her time at GSK, the central tenet of Trivedi's work once again. Adaptimmune, a FierceBiotech 2014 Fierce 15 company, has singled out biostatistics, bioinformatics, epidemiology, data management and computational programming as areas in which Trivedi will dedicate her time in her new job.
Oxford, United Kingdom-based Adaptimmune hired Trivedi as part of its attempts to ensure it has the staff it needs to support its growing slate of clinical trials. Michael Blackton, an expert in chemistry, manufacturing and controls and quality assurance, was unveiled as a new hire at the same time as Trivedi. Adaptimmune has also taken on Joseph Apostolico to handle the intensifying human resources challenges it faces as a growing company with more than 150 employees and offices on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bringing Trivedi on board at this pivotal stage for the company is indicative of the essential roles biometrics play in modern drug development organizations. The company is in a full-throttle race with deep-pocketed rivals for a slice of the market for immuno-oncology drugs. In this environment, Adaptimmune can ill afford for a lack of expertise in the quantitative and computational sciences that underpin drug development to scuttle its clinical trial plans.
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Special Report: FierceBiotech's 2014 Fierce 15 - Adaptimmune