Dr. Fischer joined Tobira's Board of Directors in April 2009. He is Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ocera Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company developing novel compounds for liver and gastrointestinal diseases. He brings 20 years of drug development and commercialization experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has been involved in and managed four healthcare companies and held senior management positions at DuPont-Merck, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Fischer was responsible for the launch of Invirase®, the first protease inhibitor, and Sustiva® the first once-daily anti-HIV therapeutic, now part of the triple combination therapy Atripla®. Dr. Fischer serves on the Board of Directors of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a foundation providing treatment and AIDS services to 150,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in over 20 countries.
Eckard Weber, M.D.,
Dr. Weber joined Tobira's Board of Directors in March 2007. Dr. Weber is a Partner at Domain Associates, where he specializes in creating companies around promising new pharmaceutical products. He has been founding CEO of multiple biopharmaceutical companies including Acea Pharmaceuticals, Ascenta Therapeutics, Calixa Therapeutics, Cytovia, Domain Antibacterial Acquisition Corporation, NovaCardia, Novacea, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Ocera Therapeutics, Orexigen Therapeutics, Sonexa Therapeutics, Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Tragara Pharmaceuticals and Tobira Therapeutics, where, until late 2010, he was Chairman of the Board. He currently serves as interim CEO of Sonexa Therapeutics. He is Chairman of the Board at Ascenta Therapeutics, Ocera Therapeutics, Orexigen Therapeutics and Sequel Pharmaceuticals. He was Chairman of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals until the company was sold to Johnson & Johnson; Chairman of Cerexa until the company was sold to Forest Laboratories; Chairman of NovaCardia until the company was sold to Merck; Chairman of Calixa until the company was sold to Cubist Pharmaceuticals; a Board member of Conforma Therapeutics until the company was sold to Biogen-IDEC, and a Board member of Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals until the company was sold to Pharmion. Dr. Weber was a tenured Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California at Irvine, has more than 20 years of drug discovery and development experience and has been a consultant to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He is the inventor or co-inventor of more than 40 patents and patent applications, and has published more than 130 papers in scientific periodicals.
Carol L. Brosgart, M.D.
Dr. Brosgart joined Tobira's Board of Directors in September 2009. Dr. Brosgart is currently Chief Medical Officer at Alios BioPharma, where she is responsible for leading the company's clinical drug development programs. She was previously employed at Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, California, where she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Prior to Children's Hospital, Dr. Brosgart held a number of senior management positions at Gilead Sciences, Inc., most recently as Vice President, Public Health and Policy. During her tenure leading clinical research at Gilead, Viread® and Hepsera® were approved by the FDA and regulatory agencies worldwide. Dr. Brosgart was a practicing physician before joining Gilead, and worked for more than 20 years in clinical care, research and teaching at several Bay Area medical centers. She received her B.S. in community medicine from the University of California, Berkeley and her M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco. She completed postgraduate training in pediatrics at UCSF and an additional residency in preventive medicine offered jointly by the California State Department of Public Health and UCB School of Public Health. She has published extensively in the areas of infectious diseases, focusing on antiviral therapy for CMV, HIV, HBV, and related public health policy.
Patrick Heron, M.B.A.
Mr. Heron joined Tobira's Board of Directors in March 2007. Mr. Heron is a General Partner with Frazier Healthcare Ventures, which focuses on biotechnology and growth equity opportunities. Mr. Heron joined Frazier Healthcare in 1999 and founded QuatRx Pharmaceuticals, an in-licensor of early-stage clinical development compounds, with its core management team in late 2000. He also led the opening of Frazier Healthcare's Palo Alto office in the summer of 2003. Mr. Heron currently serves on the boards of Avera Pharmaceuticals, Cerexa, Chimerix, Genospectra, Informed Medical Communications, QuatRx Pharmaceuticals and Trubion Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Frazier Healthcare, Mr. Heron helped develop McKinsey & Co.'s West Coast biotechnology consulting practice after starting his career working with large pharmaceutical clients on the East Coast. His projects included corporate strategy, M&A, product launch, sales force optimization, corporate partnering and research prioritization. Before joining McKinsey, Mr. Heron also worked with Massachusetts General Hospital in evaluating spin-off opportunities and with Cetus Corporation. He was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Michael J. Kamdar, M.B.A.
Mr. Kamdar joined Tobira's Board of Directors in March 2008. Mr. Kamdar is a founder of VentiRx Pharmaceuticals and currently serves as its Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer and is a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to VentiRx, Mr. Kamdar held several roles at Anadys Pharmaceuticals, most recently as SVP, Corporate Development and Finance. During this time, Mr. Kamdar led a $570M transaction with Novartis and played an instrumental role in the company's initial public offering in March 2004. Prior to Anadys, Mr. Kamdar was Senior Director, Business Development at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Warner-Lambert in 1999. Mr. Kamdar held various business development positions and responsibilities at Agouron that culminated with his assumption of global responsibility for corporate partnering, in-licensing, technology acquisition, and strategic alliance efforts in the anti-infective, oncology, and ophthalmology therapeutic areas. Previously, Mr. Kamdar held various product management and new product planning positions for Hybritech, Inc., an Eli Lilly Company, and Centocor, Inc. He received his B.S. in Biology from St. Joseph's University and his M.B.A. from Villanova University.
Jack B. Nielsen, MSc
Mr. Nielsen joined Tobira's Board of Directors in September 2010. Mr. Nielsen is a Partner in Novo Ventures, Novo A/S. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alios BioPharma, Inc., and a member of the Board of Directors of Cell Biosciences, Inc., MediQuest Therapeutics, Inc., NeoMend, Inc., Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Tobira Therapeutics, Inc., and was a board member of Protein Forest, Inc. From 1990-2001, Mr. Nielsen held various positions in Novo Nordisk, which in 2000 became Novozymes A/S. Before joining Novo A/S, Mr. Nielsen spent several years deeply involved in designing the R&D strategy for Novozymes' activities in the cereal food area, resulting in the development and launch of novel recombinant lipase and amylase enzymes. He has also held positions in marketing and technical services in the textile and personal care area, and started his career in the field of large-scale manufacturing of enzymes. Mr. Nielsen obtained an MSc from the Technical University of Denmark and a Master in Management of Technology from the Center for Technology, Economics and Management in Copenhagen.
Daniel K. Turner III, M.B.A.
Mr. Turner joined Tobira's Board of Directors in August 2007. Mr. Turner has 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, operating manager and venture capitalist. He founded Montreux and has been a General Partner/Managing Member since 1993. Immediately prior to founding Montreux, Mr. Turner was a Principal in the Turnaround Group for Berkeley International. In addition, he was the founding Chief Financial Officer of Oclassen Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused in dermatology, which merged with Watson Pharmaceuticals in 1997. Mr. Turner started his career with Price Waterhouse in the high technology group. He holds a B.S. from California State University, Sacramento (magna cum laude) and attended the M.B.A. program at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has established the Turner Fellowship. Mr. Turner is also a member of the Board of Directors of NeurogesX, Inc., Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., Renal CarePartners, Inc., Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He previously served as Montreux’s representative to the Board of Directors of Cerexa, Inc. (sold to Forest Laboratories), NovaCardia, Inc. (sold to Merck) and Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (sold to Johnson & Johnson). Additionally, Mr. Turner is a member of the Board of Trustees at Woodside Priory School. Mr. Turner is a Certified Public Accountant.
Andrew Hindman, M.B.A.
Mr. Hindman joined Tobira's Board of Directors in April 2011. Mr. Hindman is President and Chief Executive Officer. He has served in various strategic and operational roles within the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Nodality Inc., a biotechnology company developing molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine approaches to drug development, he managed strategy and execution of collaborations with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Prior to joining Nodality, he was Vice President of Corporate Development at Onyx Pharmaceuticals where he led the acquisition of Proteolix, Inc. in 2009. During his 10-year tenure with Gilead Sciences, Mr. Hindman held a series of positions increasing in responsibility within corporate development, commercial operations and government affairs. Prior to Gilead, he helped establish the biotechnology investment banking franchise at J.P. Morgan. Mr. Hindman holds a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a B.A. (Biochemistry and Economics, with High Honors) from Wesleyan University.
