Laurent Fraisse is research & development director for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, where he drives scientific strategy and oversees all research and clinical activities worldwide. Founded by Médecins Sans Frontières, the World Health Organization and five international research institutions, DNDi discovers, develops and delivers new treatments for neglected patients around the world.
Laurent is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical executive and a leading expert in infectious diseases. Prior to joining DNDi, he led R&D for large pharmaceutical firms and served as chair of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Strategic Governing Group dedicated to infectious diseases.
Laurent was executive vice president for infectious diseases at Evotec, where he focused on accelerating the infectious disease research pipeline development and initiating new open innovation R&D initiatives. Before that, during 20 years at Sanofi, he rose to become vice president for infectious disease R&D, addressing medical needs in bacterial, parasitic and viral related infections.
Laurent earned a Doctor of Philosophy in biotechnology from the Institut National Polytechnique in Toulouse, France, and graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Rennes with a specialty in biochemistry.