Adaptimmune makes board appointments

pharmafile | October 4, 2011 | Appointment | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development |  appointment, manufacturing and production, research and development 

UK and US-based cell therapy company Adaptimmune has made two new appointments to its board.

Dr Jonathan Knowles joins as a non-executive director and Dr Helen Tayton-Martin, Adaptimmune’s chief operating officer, becomes an executive director.

Dr Knowles was formerly president of group research and member of the executive committee at Roche, a post held for 12 years, and he also served as a board member at Genentech for over ten years.

Dr Tayton-Martin has been chief operating officer of Adaptimmune since the company’s formation in July 2008, having joined from commercial roles in Adaptimmune’s predecessor companies, MediGene and Avidex Limited.

Adaptimmune’s work focuses on the use of T cell therapy to treat HIV and cancer, aiming to utilise the body’s own machinery – the T lymphocyte cell – to target and destroy cancerous or infected cells.