BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a leading CRISPR genome editing company, today announced the appointment of Cherry Thomas, MD, as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development. In this newly created position, Dr. Thomas will serve as Caribou’s clinical leader and oversee the advancement of the Company’s first allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy candidate, expected to start clinical trials later this year.
“The experience and expertise that Dr. Thomas brings in both clinical and regulatory processes and in oncology and immuno-oncology will be invaluable to Caribou as we advance our first allogenic CAR-T cell therapy into the clinic,” said Steven Kanner, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Caribou. “Dr. Thomas’ appointment also represents a key senior-level addition to our capabilities in cell therapy development which will be critical as we expand our clinical pipeline.”
Dr. Thomas joins Caribou from Array Biopharma where she most recently served as Vice President of Clinical Development of the company’s oncology division. In this role, Dr. Thomas oversaw drug development strategies to accelerate compounds from discovery through the clinic. Additionally, Dr. Thomas led the IND submission process which resulted in the approval of a first-in-human clinical trial for a novel targeted oncology compound. She also designed and managed global dose-finding clinical trials for multiple oncology programs.
Dr. Thomas previously served in leadership positions with increasing responsibility at multiple companies including as Executive Director of Clinical Development at BeiGene, Ltd. where she oversaw development programs aimed to evaluate an immuno-oncology combination therapy targeting solid tumors. She also held the role of Vice President of Clinical Development at Jounce Therapeutics where she managed the company’s early development program and guided clinical trial execution. In addition, Dr. Thomas held leadership clinical development and medical roles in oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Amgen.
“I am thrilled to be joining Caribou at this significant time in its evolution,” said Dr. Thomas. “I’m excited to be working with a team at the forefront of advancing groundbreaking gene-edited cell therapies to benefit patients with significant medical need.”
About Caribou Biosciences, Inc.
Caribou is a leading company in CRISPR genome editing founded by pioneers of CRISPR biology. The company is developing an internal pipeline of off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies, gene-edited natural killer (NK) cell therapies, and engineered gut microbes. Additionally, Caribou offers licenses to its CRISPR-Cas9 foundational IP in multiple fields including research tools, internal research use, diagnostics, and industrial biotechnology. Interested companies may contact Caribou at licensing@cariboubio.com. For more information about Caribou, visit www.cariboubio.com and follow the Company @CaribouBio. “Caribou Biosciences” and the Caribou logo are registered trademarks of Caribou Biosciences, Inc.
