Doctor Norbert Bischofberger is an Austrian scientist and one of the inventors of the antiviral drug generically known as oseltamivir, which is, as of 2009, the only oral medication on the market to treat influenza A and B as well as the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 a.k.a.
Education
Bischofberger has received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Innsbruck, a Doctor of Philosophy in Organic Chemistry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich (a science and technology university in Zurich), and has done postdoctoral work at Harvard University.
Career
Swine flu, the spread of which caused an ongoing pandemic in 2009. Bischofberger is currently the Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in antivirals. He worked as part of the deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis group at Genentech from 1986–1990, before joining Gilead in 1990 as Director of Organic Chemistry.
In 1993, he began work, as head of a team, to create In 1996, clinical studies were carried out on the drug, which was the first orally active commercially developed anti-influenza medication.
Explaining the motivation behind this, he said, "We decided to create a pill and not a medication to inhale because especially people who suffer from influenza struggle with breathing difficulties. And the agent would only reach the lung," Three years later, the right to market and develop were sold to Roche, with Bischofberger and Gilead retaining the intellectual rights to lieutenant
Bischofberger has publicly displayed pessimism over the risk viruses pose, saying, "I think the threat by new bacterial or viral agents is higher than the potential of a nuclear war.".