Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> July 29, 2015

Interview with the CEO: Tobira Therapeutics, Inc. (TBRA)

Laurent Fischer
Laurent Fischer is the CEO of Tobira Therapeutics, Inc. He joined the board of directors in April 2009 and became Chief Executive Officer in March 2014. Dr. Fischer brings over 20 years of drug development and commercialization experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Tobira full time, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jennerex, a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the design, development and commercialization of first-in-class, breakthrough, targeted oncolytic immunotherapy products for cancer that was sold for up to $150 million. Prior to Jennerex, he was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Ocera Therapeutics, where he licensed and developed OCR-002 the first ammonia scavenger for the treatment of complications of liver disease and oversaw the approval of Zysa, the first treatment approved for irritable bowel syndrome in Europe. 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 was responsible for the global launch of Sustiva, the first once-daily anti-HIV therapy, now part of the fixed dose combination therapy Atripla, and he 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: Could you provide a brief overview of the company?

Dr. Fischer: Tobira has been a public company since May 4 of this year. Our focus is on developing drugs for advanced liver