Adela Appoints Precision Medicine Veteran Lisa Alderson as CEO

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Dec 14, 2023, 09:00 ET

Ms. Alderson is a seasoned healthcare CEO who brings over 20 years of experience building early-stage companies at the intersection of technology and healthcare

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Dec. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Adela, Inc., an innovator in blood testing for minimal residual disease monitoring and early cancer detection through a proprietary genome-wide methylome enrichment technology, today announced the appointment of Lisa Alderson as Chief Executive Officer, following an extensive, nationwide search. Ms. Alderson is uniquely positioned to guide Adela through product scaling and commercialization, based on her prior leadership roles at Genome Medical, Invitae, and Genomic Health.

"We are thrilled to appoint Ms. Alderson to lead Adela through its next phase of growth", said David Scheer, Chairman of Adela's Board of Directors. "The breadth and depth of her operational and commercialization experience in healthcare makes her extraordinarily well-qualified for the role. Serving most recently as interim CEO to Adela, she has already demonstrated her ability to engage and lead this mission-driven organization in delivering results."

Ms. Alderson, a seasoned leader and founder dedicated to improving patient care and advancing the adoption of precision medicine, has served on Adela's Board of Directors since early 2022, and as interim CEO since mid-2023. Ms. Alderson previously co-founded and served as the CEO of Genome Medical, the leading genomic care delivery company enabling broad-based access to genomic medicine. In addition, she served as the Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Invitae, and was also part of the start-up team at Genomic Health.

"I'm excited to guide Adela through product development, commercialization and growth with the goal of applying our innovative technology to advance patient care in oncology," said Lisa Alderson, CEO, Adela. "Adela's mission —to deliver innovative and accessible blood tests that harness biology to transform cancer care and improve well-being — aligns closely with my passion for bringing precision medicine-based technologies to the market for universal patient benefit."

Adela plans to commercialize its first product, a tissue agnostic test for minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring, in 2025. The product will be based on Adela's genome-wide methylome enrichment platform, which utilizes the company's patented technology cfMeDIP-seq, originally developed by Adela's Chief Scientific Officer, Daniel De Carvalho, Ph.D., at University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, in collaboration with investigators at Sinai Health System. Adela's technology efficiently captures extensive, biologically-relevant genomic information to maximize test performance and improve treatment decisions. It can be applied across the entire cancer care continuum and is initially being developed for MRD and multi-cancer early detection.

About Adela

Adela is developing best-in-class technology to accelerate the diagnosis and improve the management of cancer through blood tests for minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring and multi-cancer early detection (MCED). Adela's genome-wide methylome enrichment platform, which utilizes the company's patented cfMeDIP-seq platform, efficiently captures extensive, biologically-relevant genomic information to maximize test performance and improve treatment decisions. The company's platform specifically isolates the information-rich (methylated) regions of the genome through a high-affinity enrichment process, enabling it to capture and preserve more genomic material for sequencing compared to other platforms that use enzymatic or chemical treatment (bisulfite conversion). This comprehensive view of the methylome significantly increases the opportunities for Adela's products to detect cancer signals in the blood compared to approaches that target a smaller set of genomic regions. It also enables enhanced prognostic and predictive abilities, as well as dynamic monitoring in patients over time. Adela's approach to MRD testing is tissue agnostic, eliminating the burden of acquiring a tumor sample. Adela's investors are F-Prime Capital, OrbiMed, Deerfield Management, Decheng Capital, RA Capital Management, and Labcorp. Find more information at adelabio.com.

SOURCE Adela