Dr Laurent Fischer
Chairman
Laurent Fischer is a physician-entrepreneur with more than 30 years of senior leadership experience building and exiting clinical-stage biotechnology companies.
Dr Fischer brings to NovalGen a track record of multiple successful company exits totalling more than $5 billion in value, spanning oncology, virology, liver disease, and gene therapy.
Most recently, Dr Fischer served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Adverum Biotechnologies, where he led development of the first intravitreal one-and-done gene therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration — a potentially curative alternative to chronic anti-VEGF injections — culminating in the company’s acquisition by Eli Lilly in 2025. Dr Fischer continues to serve as a Senior Advisor to Eli Lilly. Prior to Adverum, he was Chairman and CEO of Tobira Therapeutics, guiding the company from clinical stage through its IPO and the first MASH $1.7 billion acquisition by Allergan in 2016. Earlier in his career, he held senior commercial and medical roles at DuPont Pharmaceuticals, DuPont-Merck, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche, where he contributed to the global launch of transformative HIV drugs Sustiva and the US launch of Invirase.
Dr Fischer currently serves on the boards of ATAI Life Sciences (psychedelic-assisted and novel CNS therapeutics), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (small molecule and monoclonal antibody therapies for rare liver, CNS and hepatitis delta), Lycia Therapeutics (LYTAC protein degrader platform in autoimmune and inflammatory disease), and Shinobi Therapeutics (Immune evasive iPSC cell therapy in oncology, autoimmune disease and diabetes). He previously served as Chairman of CTI BioPharma, sold to SOBI for $1.7 billion in 2023
A dual Swiss-American citizen and physician, Dr Fischer earned his undergraduate degree and medical degree from the University of Geneva and Geneva Medical School, Switzerland. He brings cross-border operating experience across the US, UK, and European life sciences ecosystems.
