Jean-pierre Sommadossi

Biography

Jean-Pierre Sommadossi is the CEO and Chairman of Atea Pharmaceuticals. In addition, he is a Member of the Harvard Medical School Therapeutics Advisory Council, a Senior Advisor to PureTech Ventures, Chairman of the Board, Panchrest, Inc., and a Member of the Board of The BioExec Institute. Jean-Pierre was the Principal Founder of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) and a Co-Founder of Pharmasset, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRUS). Both of these companies were acquired; Idenix by Merck for $3.85 billion in 2014, and Pharmasset by Gilead for $11 billion in 2012. Jean-Pierre held a number of key executive positions at Idenix, including Chairman of the Board of Directors, Executive President and Chief Scientific Officer from 1998 to 2000, and then Chairman and CEO from 2000 to 2010. Under his leadership, the company raised more than $450 million in private and public equity financings and entered into multiple strategic partnerships, including with Sumitomo and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as well as a landmark biotech-pharma transaction with Novartis Pharma AG in 2003. Throughout this time, Idenix discovered, co-developed and co-launched Telbuvidine (Tyzeka/Sebivo) for the treatment of Hepatitis B, and established a major clinical pipeline of antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS.

Research Interest

 Biotechnology