On October 29, 2018 Principia Biopharma Inc. (Nasdaq: PRNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing transformative oral therapies to patients with significant unmet medical needs in immunology and oncology, reported the appointment of industry veteran Dolca Thomas, M.D. as its Chief Medical Officer (Press release, Principia Biopharma, OCT 29, 2018, View Source [SID1234530295]). Dr. Thomas joins Principia from Roche, where she was Vice President and Global Head of Translational Medicine for Immunology, Inflammation, and Infectious Disease. She brings approximately 15 years of industry and medical experience to Principia. Steve Gourlay, MBBS, FRACP, Ph.D. will remain with the company as a senior medical advisor through mid-year 2019.
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"We are very excited with the addition of Dolca to the Principia team, particularly as we pursue an expanding scope of clinical development activities including initiating our pivotal Phase 3 trial for PRN1008 in patients with pemphigus. Dolca is a seasoned pharma executive with broad and successful experience in executing late stage programs, specifically in immunology," said Martin Babler, Chief Executive Officer of Principia. "I also want to thank Steve for his leadership, dedication and contributions to Principia over the past five years. Steve led the clinical development of three different molecules, including taking PRN1008 from its first-in-human trial through design and preparation for Phase 3. We are pleased that he will continue to support the company as a senior medical advisor through the first half of next year."
"I am impressed with Principia’s approach to BTK inhibition in autoimmune disease and believe that application of the company’s proprietary Tailored Covalency platform may be applicable across a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions," said Dr. Thomas. "I have been involved in more than a dozen immunology product candidates, and I look forward to contributing to the potential success of Principia’s pipeline assets and moving the company towards late-stage clinical development."
Dr. Thomas brings 15 years of industry and medical experience with strategic and operational responsibility for clinical development, pharmacovigilance, and safety and medical affairs of approximately two dozen pharmaceutical products. Most recently, Dr. Thomas was Vice President and Global Head of Translational Medicine for Immunology, Inflammation, and Infectious Disease at Roche, where she was responsible for advancing multiple product candidates through clinical development. Prior to Roche, Dr. Thomas held roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, including Vice President of Clinical Development and Clinical Immunophenotyping, and Vice President and Chief Development Officer of the Biosimilars Research and Development Unit where she was responsible for all stages of development of multiple assets. Dr. Thomas began her industry career at Bristol-Myers Squibb as Director of Global Clinical Development in Immunology, where she was involved in the development and approval of belatacept.
Dr. Thomas has a B.A. in sociology from Cornell University, and received her M.D. degree from Cornell University. Dr. Thomas completed her residency in internal medicine, in addition to her post-doctoral training in nephrology and transplantation, at New York- Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Thomas represented both Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer on the Board of Directors of the Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) Consortium, a cross-industry consortium aimed at identifying more effective methods of predicting, preventing, and developing future treatments for PML. Dr. Thomas has many past collaborations with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) where she has been the recipient of multiple JDRF research grants and awards. In addition, she served on Board of Directors for the NYC JDRF chapter.