Dr. Alvin Luk is the CEO at Neurophth Therapeutics, Inc., bringing over 28 years of leadership experience in global drug development, strategic portfolio management and clinical development. Dr. Luk has held various management positions in clinical research and medical affairs at different companies, including Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Spark Therapeutics, Biogen-Hemophilia (acquired by Sanofi), Bayer-Schering Pharma, Avigen (acquired by Sanofi) and Tularik (acquired by Amgen) of progressive responsibilities since the late 1990s. Dr. Luk oversaw the clinical research and development, global medical affairs strategy and execution, resulting in winning the regulatory approval of 18 products in neurology, ophthalmology, hematology, gene/cell therapy and cancer therapy as of today. Spark Therapeutics’ LUXTURNA® was approved as the first gene therapy product by the FDA in 2017. Dr. Luk was the Head of Clinical Research and Operations, participated in the development of LUXTURNA®, and led the clinical development and strategy of multiple AAV gene therapy candidates. Dr. Luk also served as a member at the industrial board of the US FDA Rare Disease Clinical Design Committee, focusing on optimizing the clinical trial design to shorten drug development between 2006-2009.
Dr. Luk has published more than 85 book chapters, scientific and medical articles in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals, including New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Cell, and Science, and is an inventor on over 10 patent applications. Dr. Luk holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is ACRP-certified in clinical research and also received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California San Francisco Medical School.