Irving Ford on leading Adaptimmune through FDA approval and commercialisation of their T cell therapy, Tecelra.

We are back for Season Two of Lets Talk Quality!

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Irving Ford, VP of Quality at Adaptimmune Therapeutics.

Irving has been through the commercialisation of four cell therapy products, most recently leading Adaptimmune through the BLA and FDA approval of their engineered T cell for solid tumour, Tecelra.

Irving talks about his journey from starting out his career as a Microbiologist before making his transition into the pharmaceutical industry. He started in a generics company which exposed him to a variety of product types. He worked his way up into leadership positions, across multiple different aspects of quality, to get to where he is now.

Takeaways

• The benefit of working in multiple aspects of quality in your early career
• Developing trust and building leadership capabilities
• Developing different generations of people
• Putting yourself out of your comfort zone in your career
• Key ingredients for moving from clinical to commercial operations in cell therapy
• Unlearning everything you've learnt when working in cell therapy
• Training for mindset and continuous development
• Managing stress, workload and your emotions
• Irving's values, views on legacy, inspiration, and advice for future leaders!

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Overview of Irving Ford
• 03:00 Transitioning from Clinical to Commercial Operations
• 11:33 Building Strong Relationships and Creating a Positive Work Culture
• 19:24 Challenges and Real-Time Decision Making in Cell Therapy
• 25:30 Personal Values and Leaving a Legacy
• 32:18 Advice for Future Quality Leaders

Huge thank you to Irving for giving us his time!