30 April 2019 - - US-based Adaptive Biotechnologies has appointed Lance Baldo, M.D., as chief medical officer, the company said.

Baldo brings 20 years of experience in both technology and therapeutics, combined with expertise in organisational design and change, including his most recent role as senior vice president and head of US medical affairs at Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group.

During Baldo's tenure at Genentech, he oversaw the successful medical launch of a number of new medicines, including Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh), a novel treatment for hemophilia A, and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), the first B-cell therapy specifically indicated for multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Baldo also led the Medical Affairs division through an agile transformation, focusing on driving towards individual empowerment, broadening roles, and revamping the field medical team all in the service of better patient outcomes and customer engagement.

Before becoming head of US medical affairs, he was franchise head for ophthalmology, overseeing the launch of two new indications for Lucentis.

He was general manager for Roche Pharma in New Zealand, and he also served as a lifecycle leader and as a global medical director for Roche Global Product Strategy/Global Medical Affairs in Basel, Switzerland.

Before joining Roche, Baldo was the global vice president of medical science and affairs for The Medicines Company in Parsippany, NJ, and he founded a venture capital-backed medical software company MedAptus, Inc. where he was Chief Medical officer and capital fundraiser.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is in immune-driven medicine.

Adaptive's proprietary immune medicine platform reveals and translates insights from our adaptive immune systems with unprecedented scale and precision.

Working with drug developers, clinicians and academic researchers, we are applying these insights to develop products designed to transform the way diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, and infectious diseases are diagnosed and treated.