Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> April 22, 2016
Laurent Fischer joined the board of directors of Tobira Therapeutics Inc. in April 2009 and became the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 2014. Dr. Fischer brings 20 years of drug development and commercialization experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Tobira full time as CEO, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jennerex, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development of targeted oncolytic immunotherapy products for liver cancer that was sold for up to $150 million. Prior to Jennerex, he was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Ocera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:OCRX), where he licensed and developed OCR-002, the first ammonia scavenger for the treatment of complications of liver disease. Dr. Fischer has co-founded and managed four health care companies and held senior management positions at DuPont-Merck, DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Hoffmann-La Roche in liver disease, virology and oncology. Dr. Fischer led the team responsible for the global launch of Sustiva, the first once-daily anti-HIV therapy, now part of the fixed-dose combination therapy Atripla, and was involved in the launch of Invirase, the first protease inhibitor in the United States. Dr. Fischer received his undergraduate degree from the University of Geneva and his medical degree from the Geneva Medical School, Switzerland. Profile
TWST: Please start by giving our readers a snapshot of Tobira Therapeutics’ history and its current focus.
Dr. Fischer: Tobira Therapeutics is a biotech company located in South San