Lars Ekman

Lars Ekman is the Executive Partner of Sofinnova Ventures. He previously worked at Elan Pharmaceuticals as an EVP and president of Research and Development. Lars Ekman attended the University of Gothenburg. Lars has more than 28 years in senior executive, scientific, and clinical functions, as well as several clinical and academic positions in both the United States and Europe. Lars joined Sofinnova Ventures in 2008 as an Executive Partner to lend his extensive Life Science experience to the investment team in driving new companies toward success. Lars is the Executive Chairman of Sophiris Bio (SHS.TO) (formerly PROTOX Therapeutics) as well as Chairman of Prothena plc (PRTA). He was co-founder of Cebix Incorporated and currently serves on the boards of Amarin (AMRN), InterMune (ITMN), Cebix, and Ocera Therapeutics. Prior to joining Sofinnova Ventures, Lars held the position of President of Research and Development at Elan. Lars joined Elan in January 2001, and he is credited with advancing Elan's drug discovery pipeline during this period. Under his leadership, Elan received approval for four U.S. New Drug Applications, three European Marketing Approval Applications, and five Investigational New Drug Applications. These efforts resulted in advancing Elan’s immunotherapeutic approach into Phase III and bringing to market three innovative neuroscience-based products, including Tysabri for MS. Prior to joining Elan, he was EVP, of Research and Development at Schwarz Pharma AG beginning in 1997. From 1984 to 1997, Dr. Ekman was employed in a variety of senior scientific and clinical functions at Pharmacia, now Pfizer.