About Us

– 35 years at global top positions in big pharmaceuticals at all levels. Managed staff over 7,000 employees with turnover over 7b€

– Head Pharma Region Europe Novartis

– Head Oncology Europe Novartis

– Brought various drugs from clinical development to market in oncology and general medicine among them Cosentyx, Entresto, Lucentis, Gilenya, Xolair, Ultibro, Seebri, Galvus, Exforge

– Originated and chaired the first edition of Bioupper, the Novartis accelerator for early stage projects in Italy

– Chairman of the Novartis European Executive Committee

– Member of the Innovation Management Board in charge of the R&D program of Pharma division

– Member of the Novartis Portfolio Management Board in charge of the research and development programs of the Oncology division

– Winner of the Talent Development Award (2008)

– Winner of the Business Result Excellence Award from CEO Daniel Vasella (2008)

– Member of the EFPIA Executive Committee

– Head Oncology South Europe Novartis

– Different medical positions in Novartis, Sandoz, Roussel-UCLAF, GSK

Lucio Rovati graduated Medicine and has a post-graduate specialization in ClinicalPharmacologyat the University of Milan; he completed his training asattendingphysician in Internal Medicine and servedasresearchfellow in the Department of Medical Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology of the University of Milan, School of Medicine, for four years.
He founded Rottapharm Biotech in 2014 and currently is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of the Company.

Besides his experience in internal medicine, Lucio has laboratory skills on in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, particularly of the musculoskeletal, digestive and central nervous systems. However, his most relevant expertise derives from his wide clinical research activity in the direction (including planning, performance and reporting) of clinical research programs and studies for the development of new drugs in rheumatology, gastroenterology/hepatology, gynaecology, bronchopneumology, neurology/psychiatry, cardiology, metabolism and internal medicine.
After holding similar positions at the Universities of Naples and of Parma, DrRovati is at present and since 2003 Invited Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, School of Medicine, where he is also Coordinator of a Postgraduate Master in Pharmaceutical Medicine.

DrRovati is an active member of several international scientific societies in different disciplines, where he is also included in panels providing advice to the Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicine Agency on the drafting of drug development guidelines.

Finally, he is the author of over 175 full papers in peer reviewed international scientific journals (H-index=42), 15 book chapters and over 400 abstracts. DrRovati has been among the ten Italian scientists with the largest number of publications in clinicalresearch.

Francesco De Santis is President of Italfarmaco Holding SpA since 1995 and of some of the Group subsidiaries. In 2011 Francesco De Santis wasappointed Vice-President of Farmindustria, for which he hasbeencovering key roles and positions (Delegate for Research and Relations with CRUI., Vice President of the Ethical Code Control Committee, among others).

Francesco De Santis is Member of the Confindustria Research & Development Tecnical Group and Representative of Farmindustria at the General Council of Confindustria(2017-2019).
In the scientific and academic fields, Francesco De Santis has been Member of the Board of Directors of SISF (SocietàItalianaScienzeFarmaceutiche, Italian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences) and the prestigious New York Academy of Science. In addition, Italfarmaco is part of C4T (Colosseum Combinatorial Chemisty Centre for Technology), the research center is resulting from the Joint Venture between Italian Pharmaceutcial Companies and the University of Tor Vergata.

Gabriele Campi, PhD is an immunologist with an integrate background sharing 10+ years of academic research between San Raffaele Hospital, Milan and New York University, New York City and 6+ years in Venture Capital and Technology Transfer with different positions in VC funds in Italy, Switzerland and in UK. Gabriele also worked for TTFactor, the Technology Transfer Office of the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) and the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM) as a busness development manager dealing with the transfer of early stage/pre-clinical projects to industry. He published seminal papers within the concept of the immunological synapse and T cell activation and shares a solid expertise within the process of technology transfer and biotechnology related early stage investments.

Pierluigi Paracchi is Co-Founder and Venture Consultant of AurorA-TT, a Technology Transfer initiative fully focused in the biotech sector, and Co-Founder, Board Member of Altheia Science.

He has more than 15 years of experience as Venture Capitalist and Biotech Entrepreneur. He was Founder & CEO of Quantica, the first Italian VC firm exclusively dedicated to research and academic spin-out companies and Venture Consultant at Sofinnova Partners. He was investors and Board Member at EOS – Ethical Oncology Science, acquired by Clovis Oncology for 470M.

He is Co-Founder and CEO of Genenta Science, spin-out from San Raffaele Hospital: gene therapy for tumor treatment; Board Member at Assobiotec and Chairman of the SMEs group.

– 35 years at global top positions in big pharmaceuticals at all levels. Managed staff over 7,000 employees with turnover over 7b€

– Head Pharma Region Europe Novartis

– Head Oncology Europe Novartis

– Brought various drugs from clinical development to market in oncology and general medicine among them Cosentyx, Entresto, Lucentis, Gilenya, Xolair, Ultibro, Seebri, Galvus, Exforge

– Originated and chaired the first edition of Bioupper, the Novartis accelerator for early stage projects in Italy

– Chairman of the Novartis European Executive Committee

– Member of the Innovation Management Board in charge of the R&D program of Pharma division

– Member of the Novartis Portfolio Management Board in charge of the research and development programs of the Oncology division

– Winner of the Talent Development Award (2008)

– Winner of the Business Result Excellence Award from CEO Daniel Vasella (2008)

– Member of the EFPIA Executive Committee

– Head Oncology South Europe Novartis

– Different medical positions in Novartis, Sandoz, Roussel-UCLAF, GSK

Gabriele Campi, PhD is an immunologist with an integrate background sharing 10+ years of academic research between San Raffaele Hospital, Milan and New York University, New York City and 6+ years in Venture Capital and Technology Transfer with different positions in VC funds in Italy, Switzerland and in UK. Gabriele also worked for TTFactor, the Technology Transfer Office of the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) and the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM) as a busness development manager dealing with the transfer of early stage/pre-clinical projects to industry. He published seminal papers within the concept of the immunological synapse and T cell activation and shares a solid expertise within the process of technology transfer and biotechnology related early stage investments.

– 20 years in BioPharma, Medical Devices and Consulting with different management roles in various European countries. Managed staff over 100 employees with turnover over 30M€

– CEO Inorgen (Drug Discovery Engine), UK and Italy

– Deployment of the business model, marketing with pharma companies, VCs and relevant stakeholders for partnering activities

– Agreement with a Drug Discovery company for asset co-development

– Mentoring of two academic early stage projects oncology concerning tumor microenvironment and precision medicine

– Member of the start-up commission at Tor Vergata University in Rome

– CBO International Operations OPIS (Clinical CRO), Italy

– Launched the expansion of international operations

– VP Strategy and Organization La-ser Europe, UK. Pharma Consulting in health science

– CBO Northern and Southern Europe, France

– Country Manager Italy Stallergenes, Italy

– Hit regularly sales and EBIT targets

– Built and managed successful pharma operations teams in Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and other countries

– 1 drug (Oralair) brought to market in Italy and Spain

– Rationalisation of the drug of named patient products portfolio (from 150+ to 10 products) to follow a specialty medicine’s pharmaceutical approach

– Sales and Marketing Director, Air Liquide Medical Systems, Italy

– Various management roles in industry, France and Italy

Paolo Rizzardi, MD, internist, is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of AurorA-TT, a Technology Transfer initiative fully focused in the biotech sector, and Co-Founder, Chairman&CEO of Altheia Science. He combines a strong scientific background with managerial skills gained in substantially contributing to successfully develop biotechnology companies and to achieve the market approval of advanced therapy medicinal products in the cell&gene therapy and oncology field. After spending more than 10 years in academia in Italy, UK, and Switzerland in developing programs for innovative immune-based/vaccination strategies in patients with HIV/AIDS, he worked for more than 15 years in the cell&gene therapy biotech sector, developing a unique expertise in R&D, CMC, clinical and business development, development, engineering, and IP from target validation to market approval.

He published over 90 peer-reviewed manuscripts and textbook chapters (4500+ citations, h-index 32), including seminal contribution to the field of immunopathogenesis and innovative treatment of HIV infection.

Pierluigi Paracchi is Co-Founder and Venture Consultant of AurorA-TT, a Technology Transfer initiative fully focused in the biotech sector, and Co-Founder, Board Member of Altheia Science.

He has more than 15 years of experience as Venture Capitalist and Biotech Entrepreneur. He was Founder & CEO of Quantica, the first Italian VC firm exclusively dedicated to research and academic spin-out companies and Venture Consultant at Sofinnova Partners. He was investors and Board Member at EOS – Ethical Oncology Science, acquired by Clovis Oncology for 470M.

He is Co-Founder and CEO of Genenta Science, spin-out from San Raffaele Hospital: gene therapy for tumor treatment; Board Member at Assobiotec and Chairman of the SMEs group.