HCV: The Journey from Discovery to a Cure

Michael J. Sofia, Ph.D. is currently Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at Arbutus Biopharma, Inc., a company focused on the discovery and development of therapies to treat hepatitis B. He also holds a professorship at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and an Adjunct Professorship at the Drexel University School of Medicine. Previously, Mike Sofia was Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Senior Advisor at Gilead Sciences and was Sr. Vice President of Chemistry at Pharmasset, Inc until Pharmasset’s acquisition by Gilead in Jan 2012.Mike Sofia previously held research and research management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Intercardia Research Labs (formerly Transcell Technologies) and  Eli Lilly & Co. He did his postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry as an NIH fellow at Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  He earned his B.A. degree in chemistry from Cornell University.Mike has introduced numerous drugs into clinical development for the treatment of infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. He is the principle inventor of sofosbuvir (Sovaldiâ and Harvoniâ) currently marketed as a treatment for the cure of HCV infection.  Mike is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2015 ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award, the Economist Magazine’s 2015 Innovation Award in Biosciences, the 2016 IUPAC-Richter Prize, the 2016 Lasker-Debakey Award in Clinical Medical Research and the 2017 Gertrude Elion Award from the International Society for Antiviral Research.

• NS5A as a target for HCV Drug Discovery.- The Discovery and Development of Daclatasvir: An Inhibitor of the Hepatitis C Virus NS5A Replication Complex.- The Discovery of Ledipasvir (GS-5885): The Potent Once-Daily Oral HCV NS5A Inhibitor in the Single-Tablet Regimen Harvoni®.- The Discovery of Velpatasvir (GS-5816): The Potent Pan-Genotypic Once-Daily Oral HCV NS5A Inhibitor in the Single-Tablet Regimens Epclusa® and Vosevi®.-  Discovery of Elbasvir.- HCV NS5A as an Antiviral Therapeutic Target: From Validation to the Discovery and Development of Ombitasvir and Pibrentasvir as Components of IFN-Sparing HCV Curative Treatments.-  Evolution of HCV NS4B Inhibitors.- The Evolution of Clinical Trials for Hepatitis C.- The Clinical Development of Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF, Harvoni®).- The Clinical Development of Sofosbuvir/Velpatasvir (SOF/VEL, Epclusa®).- The Clinical Development of Sofosbuvir/Velpatasvir/Voxilaprevir (SOF/VEL/VOX, Vosevi®).- Clinical Development of Viekira Pak to Mavyret.- Development of ZEPATIER®.- Real world effectiveness of DAA therapies.- The Benefit of Direct-Acting Antiviral HCV Cure Therapies.- Cure and Control: What Will It Take to Eliminate HCV?.- Perspectives on HCV Cure.