Michael J. Sofia is a chemist whose main research focus is hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus drug discovery. He was a co-recipient of the

Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award is one of four annual awards presented by the Lasker Foundation. The Lasker-DeBakey award is given to honor outstanding work for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of diseas ...

for his work on

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...

in 2016 and of the Gertrude B. Elion Memorial Award from the International Society for Antiviral Research in 2017.

Career

Sofia earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, and Ph.D. in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He did a postdoctoral fellow at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, followed by work as a research scientist at biotech companies including the Squibb Institute for Medical Research.

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...

, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He was Senior Vice President of Chemistry at

Pharmasset Pharmasset Inc. was a pharmaceutical company based in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States. The company develops antiviral drugs for HIV (including racivir), hepatitis B (including clevudine, marketed as Levovir), and hepatitis C. In N ...

from 2005 to 2012 when Pharmasset was acquired by

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (; he, גִּלְעָד ''Gīləʿāḏ'', ar, جلعاد, Ǧalʻād, Jalaad) is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> Th ...

, after which he became a senior advisor. Michael J. Sofia is currently the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of

Arbutus Biopharma Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a publicly traded Canadian (NASDAQ: ABUS) biopharmaceutical company with an expertise in liposomal drug delivery and RNA interference, and is developing drugs for hepatitis B infection. It is headquartered in Va ...

, formerly as OnCore Biopharma prior to its 2015 merger with Tekmira Pharmaceuticals.

Awards

Michael J. Sofia was awarded the 2016

for his research on

, along with

Charles M. Rice Charles Moen Rice (born August 25, 1952) is an American virologist and Nobel Prize laureate whose main area of research is the Hepatitis C virus. He is a professor of virology at the Rockefeller University in New York City and an adjunct profess ...

and Ralf F. W. Bartenschlager. He was also awarded the 2016 IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry and the Economist's 2015 Innovation Award in the Bioscience category for the development of

sofosbuvir Sofosbuvir, sold under the brand name Sovaldi among others, is a medication used to treat hepatitis C. It is taken Oral administration, by mouth. Common side effects include fatigue, headache, nausea, and trouble sleeping. Side effects are gen ...

, which was named after Sofia for his contributions to the discovery and development of the drug. He received the Gertrude B. Elion Memorial Award of the International Society for Antiviral Research (2017).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sofia, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award 21st-century American chemists Cornell University alumni