Phillip A. Furman

Dr. Furman is Vice President of Biological Sciences at Georgia-based Pharmasset, an emerging pharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel antiviral drugs.
He is the former chief scientific officer for Triangle Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired for $464 million by Gilead Sciences.
The company developed new drug candidates primarily in the antiviral area, with a particular focus on therapies for HIV, including AIDS, and the hepatitis B virus.
The company had an existing portfolio of five licensed drug candidates and several drug candidates.
Previously, he served as director of Virology at Burroughs Wellcome, where he played a significant role in the development of AZT, acycolvir, abacavir, valtrex and agenerase and is listed as a co-inventor on over 20 patents.
His research at Burroughs Wellcome focused on the structure and function of nucleic acid polymerizing enzymes.
He is named co-inventor of the use of AZT for HIV therapy.
He is the author of over 80 publications.
Dr. Furman continues to review articles for the following journals: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Biochemistry and Journal of Biological Chemistry and has been a section editor for Current Drugs.
From 1993-1995, he was a member of the scientific panel of the Inter-Company Collaboration for AIDS Drug Development and was the Chairman of the Admissions Committee for the organization.
Dr. Furman received an M.A.
in microbiology from the University of Southern Florida and a Ph.D.
in microbiology from Tulane University and completed his post-doctoral training at Duke University.