Norbert Bischofberger (1956–), Biochemist.

Norbert Bischofberger is a biochemist from Mellau, a small village in Vorarlberg, and one of the inventors of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, generically known as Oseltamivir, as well as antiviral drugs against Aids and Hepatitis B. Tamiflu is the only oral medication on the market to treat influenza A and B as well as H1N1 (swine flu), the spread of which caused an ongoing pandemic in 2009. Bischofberger served as the Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company in Foster City, California, specializing in antivirals for almost thirty years. Bischofberger earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Innsbruck, and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He did his postdoctoral work at Harvard University and with Syntex Research. In terms of the risk viruses pose for mankind he is pessimistic, saying, “I think the threat by new bacterial or viral agents is higher than the potential of a nuclear war.” He recently left Gilead to launch the new start-up Kronos Bio with MIT professor Angela Koehler. They are taking a shot at breaking new ground in cancer R&D.