Christopher M. Starr

Dr. Starr has helped bring 6 orphan product drugs to market, and as co-founder and CEO of Raptor Pharmaceuticals (recently purchased by Horizon Pharma), oversaw the approval, launch, and successful commercialization of Procysbi®. He served as Raptor’s initial CEO since its inception in 2006 through 2014 and continued to serve on Raptor’s board of directors until Raptor was sold to Horizon Pharma in October 2016. Dr. Starr co-founded BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in 1997 where he last served as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer until starting Raptor in 2006. As Senior Vice President at BioMarin, Dr. Starr was responsible for managing a Scientific Operations team of 181 research, process development, manufacturing and quality personnel through the successful development of commercial manufacturing processes for its enzyme replacement and small molecule products, and supervised the cGMP design, construction and licensing of BioMarin's proprietary biological manufacturing facility. From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Starr supervised research and commercial programs at BioMarin's predecessor company, Glyko, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Research and Development. Prior to his tenure at Glyko, Inc., Dr. Starr was a National Research Council Associate at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Starr earned a B.S. from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the State University of New York Health Science Center, in Syracuse, New York.