Our History

Italian Angels for Biotech (hereinafter “IAB”) was founded in mid-2015, originating from the idea of a group of successful life sciences entrepreneurs. Although, Italy has incredible talents and brilliant ideas are continuously generated, most projects do not have enough breadth to attract specialized investors. As a consequence, most ideas fail to reach a level of maturity to become a successful enterprise. We strongly believe that a specialized group of Angels dedicated to the Life Sciences sector could help to fill the gap: identify the most valuable projects, finance and nurture them to a mature stage to attract the Venture Capital community and/or corporate investors.

WHO WE ARE

IAB is an association made by a group of people with significant experience in Life Sciences. Members include successful entrepreneurs and investors, prominent executives, advisors, physicians and scientists. Most IAB members have been also founders and/or senior executives in companies within the healthcare space.

IAB has a very lean organization:
  • IAB Members (associates)
  • IAB Board, with a Chairman and a Vice Chairman

Our Profiles

Enterpreneurs
71%
MD
25%
PHD
46%

OUR TEAM

IAB MembersBoard

Alessandro Sidoli

DR

  • Alessandro is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Axxam S.p.A. He has around 30 years experience in pharma and biotech.
  • Alessandro graduated in Biology from the University of Pavia, as a member of the Ghislieri College. He started his career in 1982 as a Research Scientist at the Biotechnology Department of Farmitalia Carlo Erba in Milan, and later was a researcher at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University (UK). From 1986 through 1989 he served as Head of the Biotechnology Department at the Istituto Sieroterapico Milanese (Milan). During the ‘90s he founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Primm S.r.l. and later also Director of Technology Transfer at San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park in Milan.
  • He is Managing Director at IMAX Discovery GmbH and a member of the Board of Directors of Externautics SpA.
  • Since 2003 he has been the Vice-President and in May 2010 was appointed President of Federchimica/Assobiotec, the Italian association for the development of the biotech industry and member of EuropaBio. As of October 2013 he is also member of the Chairmanship Committee of Federchimica with proxy to the new Technology Companies.
  • He is author of around 50 scientific publications and inventor of numerous national and international patents.

Alfredo Nicosia

PHD

  • Alfredo is Professor of Molecular Biology and former founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Okairos. At Okairos he has contributed to the development of vaccine candidates for HCV, HIV, RSV, Malaria and Ebola.
  • During his career he held a number of positions in basic research Institutions including the EMBL in Heidelberg, FRG and in pharmaceutical Companies such as Merck.
  • He holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Rome and has gained extensive experience in vaccine research and immunology.
  • He has published over 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts and holds a number of patents and patent applications.

Chiara Zambon

DR

  • Chiara is Vice-President of the board of Zambon Company S.p.A., holding of the Group, member of the Board of Directors of Zambon S.p.A. and of ZaCh – Zambon Chemicals.
  • She is also member of the Strategic Advisory Board of Zambon and followed, as member of the Board of Directors, from its origins in 2003, ZCube the incubator of Zambon Group.
  • From 1989 to 1999 worked in the Research & Development department of Zambon as in-vivo pharmacology scientist within the Central Nervous System research team, assistant to the development product Project Leader within the cardiovascular area and within the R&D Planning & Control team.
  • Chiara hold a Bachelor degree in chemistry and pharmaceutical technologies and specialization in Pharmacology at the University of Milan.
  • She is also member of the Board of Zoé Foundation, Zambon Open Education.

Claudio Giuliano

PHD, MBA

  • From 2007, Claudio is Managing Partner at Innogest SGR, the leading VC firm in Italy with over Euro 170 Mln under management. Claudio is founder of the Italian VC Hub.  He serves as chairman of the VC Committee at the Italian VC and PE association (AIFI) and is part of several private and public bodies involved in start-up and entrepreneurship development.
  • Prior to Innogest, Claudio was Associate Director at The Carlyle Group (London), Strategy consultant at Bain&Co (Italy) and Supply Chain Manager at Hewlett-Packard (California and France).
  • Claudio holds a Summa cum Laude Master of Science in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, a Summa cum Laude Diplôme d’études approfondies in Microelectronics from l’Institute Nationale Polytecnique in Grenoble (France) and an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s List), in Fontainebleau (France).
Rumazza_new
Rumazza_new

Claudio Rumazza

DR

  • Claudio Rumazza is a Venture Capital investor, Partner at Innogest. He focuses on healthcare investments and in particular on medical devices, diagnostics and digital health.
  • Claudio currently serves on the Board or is involved as a Board observer in Erydel SpA, Igea SpA, D-Eye Srl, Atricath Srl Beintoo SpA, Angiodroid Srl, Pi-Cardia Ltd. and Newronika Srl.
  • Before joining Innogest, Claudio was the CFO of Finn-Power Group, head of Financial Planning and Control at Prima Industrie Group and before that he was a consultant with Deloitte Financial Advisory.
  • Claudio has a bachelor degree in business administration from University of Torino.

Davide Finocchietti

DR

Davide is an Angel Investor, member of several italian BAN, and deal flower for other companies. He works with startups also as a Mentor, directly and for different incubators/accelerators such as Murate Idea Park (Firenze), Impact Hub (Milano) and Social Innovation Teams (Torino).

 

He is Business Designer and Business Coach accredited with ICF, and worked for several years with freelance and PMI for the 0-1 process, or to improve their Business Model.

 

He is member of Wisionaria, a local impact organization which inspires and realizes positive innovation in local areas, through the skills of design thinking and regenerative business.

 

Davide worked for GSK and Charles River Laboratories, and graduated in Medical, Pharmaceutical and Veterinary Biotechnology at University of Parma, working for one year on expression of Glypican-5 expression in human cells."

Elena Paola Lanati

DR

Paola has been a manager and an entrepreneur, and now she is also a business angel and keep going as a mom of a 9 years old daughter.

Paola has spent 11 years as a talented manager with growing business responsibilities in P&G, both pharma and mass market, then Astrazeneca, UCB and BMS.

  • In 2010 Paola opened her two companies, focusing in the growing area of market access and pricing (3P SOLUTION and MA Provider), and acquiring in 2018 a third company (Argon Healthcare now MAPCOM CONSULTING) to compliment the full areas of service to pharma companies.
  • In 2017, she founded with the University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO) the ATMPFORUM, the first project on ATMP, opened in Italy, and is now ATMPFORUM director.
  • At the end of 2021, she sold the 3 companies (13 millions sales and 70 people), to Pharmalex a global company focused on high level service provider in the lifescience field, and now is serving as MAP Group CEO.
  • Since 2021, Paola is CDA President of Rocket Social, a young company focused on digital marketing to understand and exploit the opportunities of digital health.

Paola started also her activity as business angel, as Angel for Women association and now IAB, investing in female companies, mainly in lifescience.

She is passionated about business in lifescience, with particular interest on pricing topics, ATMP and all kind of innovation in general, with a positive but challenging approach.

Elena Zambon

DR

  • Elena is President President of Zambon S.p.A., Vice President of ZaCh (Zambon Chemicals) and member of the board of Zambon Company S.p.A., holding of the Group.
  • In June 2014 she has been nominated Cavaliere del Lavoro and has received the award “Imprenditore Olivettiano 2010” and “Marisa Belisario 2010”.
  • She is also President of Secofind, member of the Board of Director and the strategic Committee of Italcementi S.p.A. Member of the Board of Fondo Strategico Italiano and of IIT (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), and recently appointed member of the Board of Unicredit bank.
  • Elena holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration at the University Bocconi in Milan. From 1989 to 1994 worked in Citibank.
  • Furthermore, Elena is President of AIDAF, the Italian Association of Family Businesses and Vicepresident (and member of the Executive Committee) of Aspen Institute Italia.
  • She is President of Zoé Foundation, and Zambon Open Education.

Elisabeth Robinson

PHD

  • Betsy is Investment Director for TT Venture, President of the Nicox Research Institute, member of the Italian Angels fro Growth
  • She is also co-founder and Board member of Relivia, Board member at Biogenera an and member of the Consulting Board of Rare Partners, a non-profit organization focused on orphan diseases.
  • She was co-founder of Nicox Sa, Director, Product development at Recordati; consultant, technology development at Technit; Vice President New Technology Ventures Europe at Genzyme (1985-1988).
  • She graduated at the Wellesley, obtained Master of Science and PhD in Biotechnology from the MIT.
  • She has over 20 year experience as entrepreneur as well as venture capital and angels transactions in the Life Science sector.

Fabrizio De Simone

DR

  • Fabrizio runs the Italian Life Sciences Corporate Finance practice of EY (f.k.a. Ernst & Young)
  • He has 19 years’ international experience in Corporate Finance, with main focus on M&A, coupled with a deep knowledge of Equity Capital Markets, Private Equity, Debt Advisory, Turnaround, Valuation and Business Modeling
  • Fabrizio has a wealth of transaction experience across industries and geographies, having worked on over 70 transactions (mostly cross-border) worth in excess of €22bn. In addition, he has extensive management experience as a key contributor in the start-up of four corporate finance teams in three different organizations
  • In the last couple of years, he has served as advisors to various Life Sciences clients, including Cerba Healthcare (acquisition of DeltaMedica, 2017), Recordati (acquisition of Italchimici, 2016) and Fine Foods (debt raising, 2016)
  • Before joining EY in 2012, Fabrizio co-founded and developed for four years DVR Capital, a successful start-up independent merchant bank (2008-2012); prior to that, he has worked for ten years at the Investment Banking Division of Salomon Smith Barney / Citi in London, Sydney and Milan (1998-2008)
  • Graduated with Honors in Business Law in 1998 at the Bocconi University in Milan, Fabrizio is a native speaker of Italian, is fluent in English and French and has a working knowledge of Spanish

Federica Draghi

PHD, MBA

  • Federica is a Director at Genextra, she joined in 2006 and since then has been involved in a number of activities ranging from evaluation of new investing opportunities to partnering, licensing as well as strategic development of Genextra’s subsidiary companies.
  • Federica is also Chief Operating Officer of Congenia s.r.l. and member of the Board of Directors of Erydel S.p.A., two of Genextra’s portfolio companies.
  • Before joining Genextra, Federica acquired experience in the technology transfer area at Windham Venture Partners, a NYC based life sciences technology commercialization firm, and before that with Science and Technology ventures, Columbia University’s technology transfer office. Prior to that she was a postdoc at the MRC in Cambridge (UK) and she has authored several scientific publications.
  • Federica holds an MBA from Columbia University and a PhD in Biochemistry from La Sapienza, University of Rome.

Federica Girolami

DR

FEDERICA Girolami

  • Federica is Business Development, Scientific Liaison and Drug Safety Director at Rottapharm Biotech, where she is responsible for negotiations, alliances, and licensing activities. In her role as Scientific Liaison, she cultivates relationships with academic researchers and key opinion leaders. Given her long-standing experience in Pharmacovigilance, she is also responsible for all Drug Safety activities in Rottapharm Biotech’s Clinical Trials.
  • Before joining Rottapharm, she developed her career at Du Pont Pharma, Helsinn Healthcare, and at IBSA where she served as European Qualified Person responsible for Pharmacovigilance.
  • Federica holds a Pharmacy degree from the University of Florence and a Master degree in International Health Care Management, Economies and Policy from the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan.
  • Federica is a lecturer at the University of Milano-Bicocca, School of Medicine, where she teaches in a Postgraduate Master in Pharmaceutical Medicine.

Francesco Granata

MD

  • Francesco is currently a Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus, a leading Private Equity firm focused on growth investing, where he works with a team that is in charge of investments in Pharma assets in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
  • He is a medical doctor by training and is an accomplished healthcare executive, with over 35 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
  • Most recently he served as Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee at Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB), a leading global biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts where he led the Global (including USA) Commercial and Medical affairs operations till February 2012. Previously, was Group Vice President and President for Schering-Plough’s Europe and Canada Region from 2005-2009.
  • He has previously held Senior regional management positions with Pfizer, Managing Director positions with Pharmacia and Dompѐ Biotec, and a commercial management position with Glaxo.
  • He is also currently Chairman of the Board of Circassia (LSE); Board member of Italfarmaco; Prismic Pharmaceuticals, a US based medical food company; Member of the strategic advisory board of Lupin, a leading Indian pharmaceutical company.
  • Francesco has served as a member of several industry associations: Board Member of Farmindustria (Italy), Head of Italian LAWG, Chairman of Pharma Heads of Europe Committee, Co-Chairman of EFPIA Heads of Europe Committee and Board member of EFPIA.

Francesco Maschio

DR

  • Pierfrancesco is CEO of Ricerchimica S.r.l. a consulting company focused on M&A and transaction services in Lifescience. He has over 25-year experience in Pharmaceuticals at European level with particular expertise in the Italian and Spanish market, where Ricerchimica was present, in Barcelona, with their own offices for over 5 years.
  • Pierfrancesco has a wide experience in transaction, having worked on over 100 transactions of pharmaceutical assets (companies, manufacturing sites, products, patents, etcc.)
  • Since 2015 Pierfrancesco is Senior Advisor in Life Sciences Corporate Finance department at EY S.p.A.

Francesco Sinigaglia

MD

  • Francesco is a senior advisor to Dompé farmaceutici and chairman of the Board of Eyevensis, a French ophthalmic therapy company.
  • He was founder and CEO of Anabasis Srl, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative therapies for the eye, that was acquired by the Dompé’s group in 2011. In the same year he joined the Executive Board of Dompé.
  • In 2002 he co-founded and led Bioxell SpA, a biotech company that he took public on the Swiss stock exchange in 2006.
  • Prior to that he had been with Roche for 20 years, the first 10 years in Basel, Switzerland, where he directed various research projects and contributed to the discovery of several drug candidates. In 1992 he founded and became the Scientific Director of Roche Milano Ricerche, a Roche Research Centre focused on chronic inflammatory diseases.
  • He is an elected member of several international organisations, including EMBO and the Henry Kunkel society.
Gabriele Foto
Gabriele Foto

Gabriele Tundo

DR

  • Gabriele is Vice President at Plexus Ventures, global corporate and business development boutique for life science companies.
  • Gabriele supports companies worldwide by providing strategic advice and seeking partners to build their businesses. He advised on several M&A, asset divestments and licensing transactions. In addition to pharma and biotech, Gabriele invests his time and energy in adjacent and innovative spaces, such as medical devices, diagnostics and digital health.
  • Prior to joining Plexus, Gabriele worked at Novartis Oncology Region Europe, where he focused on Market Access and Commercial Excellence in 38 countries.
  • Gabriele holds a BSc in Business Administration and a MSc in Corporate Finance from Bocconi University in Milan. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

Giovanni Rizzo

DR

  • Giovanni is CEO of iDNA Ltd, a consulting firm for drug discovery and early preclinical development, helping start-up for funds raising through access to business investors, venture capital firms and pharmaceutical companies.
  • He is also Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London (UCL) and Peer Reviewer Expert – European Commission.
  • He was Head of Biology at Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT), a NY-based biotech company, focused on liver diseases from 2006 to 2014.
  • In 2014 was appointed Vice President of E3Bio, an Index Venture portfolio Company.
  • He received the MBA from HULT business school – London

Khalid Islam

MD, PHD

  • Khalid has 28 years of Pharma and Biotech industry experience. He is an advisor to the venture group Kurma Biofund (Paris), founder/co-founder of Sirius Healthcare Partners GmbH (Zurich), PrevAbr LLC (D.C.), BioAim LLC (L.A.) & Life Sciences Management GmbH (Zug).
  • He has been the Chairman and CEO of Gentium S.p.A. (a Nasdaq-listed company; 2009-2014) where he led the transition from a loss-making to a cash-flow positive and profitable company. Under his leadership Defitelio was granted Marketing Authorisation in the EU and the company value increased from 25m USD leading to a successful all cash 1billion USD merger with Jazz pharmaceuticals, plc.
  • From 1999-2008, he was President and CEO of Arpida AG where he transitioned the early-stage start-up to a SWX-listed company and raised 300m USD in the IPO and follow-ons.
  • From 1987-1999, he held various positions in HMR & MMD (now Sanofi-Aventis).
  • From 1977-1987, he worked in academia at Imperial College (Univ. of London) and in Milan University, where he was a contract professor. Dr. Islam is a graduate of Chelsea College and received his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London. He holds several patents and has published over 85 articles in leading journals and is a member of the Editorial Board of Current Drug Discovery and Technologies.
  • He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Karolinska Development (KDEV.ST; Stockholm), Molmed (MLM.MI; Milan), Fennec (FRX.TO; North Carolina) and OxThera (Stockholm) and has previously been a member of the Board of Directors of Arpida AG (Basel and DC), Rheoscience AS (Copenhagen); PCovery AS (Copenhagen), Adenium AS (Copenhagen) and C10 Pharma AS (Oslo).

Laura Iris Ferro

MD, PHD

  • Laura is Panakes Fund Executive Advisor (biomedical technologies and medical devices)
  • She is President of Bio4Dreams, the first entirely privately owned business nursery in life sciences in Italy.
  • She is Board Member of Molmed S.p.A., listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
  • She is Board Member of several startups: Newronika, BrainDTech and Wise.
  • She is Board Member of Sorin Group and actively engaged in another business angels association, Italian Angels for Growth
  • She got her MD at University of Milan and then her PhD both in Psychiatry and Clinical Pharmacology at the same University. She got also a MBA Master (evening session) at Milan’s Bocconi University
  • Psychiatrist in different public structures.
  • She has covered different roles, including Director of Research and Managing Director, in Pharmaceutical Company Crinos SpA (from 2002 Sirton pharmaceuticals SpA).
  • She has been Chairman of Foltene Laboratories (hair care products). The Company has been re-launched and then ceased. She was also Managing Director of Sirton Pharmaceuticals, B- to-B drugs manufacturing Company.
  • Laura founded Gentium Spa, of which she has been Managing Director. She has developed Company’s assets managing the listing on USA capital markets, first at Amex and then at Nasdaq. The Company then was sold to Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
  • She was Chairman of Azienda di Servizi alla Persona Istituti Milanesi Martinitt e Pio Albergo Trivulzio (largest geriatric hospital and nursing home in Italy).
  • She is President of Bio4Dreams, the first entirely privately owned business nursery in life sciences in Italy.
  • She is Board Member of Molmed S.p.A., listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
  • She is Board Member of several startups: Newronika, BrainDTech and Wise.

Leopoldo Zambeletti

DR

  • Leopoldo is an independent strategic advisor in the Life Science sector.
  • In this capacity he has advised various companies on Merger and Acquisitions, out-licensing deals and financing strategy, including advising Nogra Pharma in the largest ever out licensing to Celgene for a compound in development.
  • Prior to becoming an independent advisor he was a Senior Managing Director and Head of European, India and MENA Healthcare Investment Banking at Credit Suisse and the Head of the Ultra High Net Worth group from 2007 to 2012.
  • From 1994 to 2007, he held various positions at J.P. Morgan, including Head of Healthcare Investment Banking as a Managing Director.
  • He servesas a member of the board of directors of Nogra Pharma, Summit Therapeutics, Advanced Accelerator Applications and Qardio. He is also a trustee of Barts and the London Charity, the NHS largest Trust and a founder of the cultural initiative 5×15 Italy.
  • Leopoldo received bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy.

Lorenzo Leoni

PHD

  • Lorenzo Leoni, PhD, is a scientific serial entrepreneur in the biopharmaceutical and biomedical areas with a broad experience in translational medicine (oncology/hematology), drug development, medical device development, clinical development and business development.
  • After obtaining a Ph.D. in biochemistry and immunology in Lausanne 1995, he moved to California for a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California San Diego and became I Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology. Dr. Leoni worked on the biology of lymphoproliferative and leukemic diseases and the pharmacology of newly discovered anti-tumor drugs.
  • In 2000 he founded Salmedix inc, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego venture capital funded, that successfully developed several anti-tumor therapies against hematologic tumors and solid tumors and was sold to a large biotech company in 2005 for $ 200 million.
  • After returning to Switzerland, and a brief position as COO of a Swiss public biotech company, he founded and became CEO of Telormedix a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on targeted immunity in the treatment of cancers that developed the experimental product Vesimune. In 2010 Dr. Leoni founded a medical device company developing a wireless implanted biosensor for the continuous diagnosis of clinical biomarkers.
  • Since 2011 Dr. Leoni is the CEO of the AGIRE Foundation, the innovation Agency of Southern Switzerland, and managing partner of the seed investment fund AGIRE INVEST that has invested in several biomedical early stage companies.

Luca Benatti

CHAIRMAN, DR

Luca Benatti

CHAIRMAN, DR

  • Luca is CEO of EryDel S.p.A. He has over 25 year experience in Pharma and Biotech. From 1985-1998 he held several positions in Farmitalia, Pharmacia&Upjohn.
  • He was Co-founder, CEO of Newron Pharmaceuticals, until May 2012. Under his guidance, Newron developed a pipeline of innovative therapies, with most advanced compound safinamide approved in EU for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. During his tenure, Newron raised significant capital from international venture capital firms, and was listed at the Swiss stock exchange. He also was instrumental in finalizing multimillion licensing deals with Merck Serono, Meiji Seika and Zambon, and in the acquisition of the UK biotech Company Hunter Fleming.
  • He is independent Board member at Newron Pharmaceuticals (SIX), Intercept Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq), Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board of Zambon, Vice President and member of the Board of Assobiotec. He has authored several scientific publications and holds numerous patents.

Luca Garibaldi

PHD

  • Luca is the co-founder of STUDIO LEGALE GARIBALDI-QUARZO, a Milan-based law firm specializing in corporate, commercial and idustrial law applied, principally, to the Health sector.
  • Prior to professing as a self-employed lawyer, he matured a significat experience as head of legal affairs in a leading international medical device company, contributing to the implementation of the primary EU directives on Medical Devices .
  • Since 1999, as a Milan-listed business lawyer, he has continued to practice law with special focus in the fields of pharmaceutical law and, more generally, of the laws that form the operational-basis for any company active in the health sector.
  • Luca continues to act as general counsel for a selected number of leading national and international companies operating in his fields of practice and expertise. He has assisted several entrapeneurs, both inventors and investors, through the various stages of their business-ventures, until maturity and full expansion of their businesses, including cases of reknown all-Italian success.
  • In his more than ventennal experience in the health sector, Luca has also managed to distinguish himself as one of the few lawyers with an in-depth knowledge of the laws and regulations applicable to clinical-trails on medicinal products for human use. He also continues to practice corporate and commercial law for ordinary and non-ordinary operations, with a clear inhouse-like approach which is both practical and informal.
Foto_Spaccapelo
Foto_Spaccapelo

Luca Spaccapelo

MD

LUCA SPACCAPELO, MD, PHARMACOLOGIST, MBA

    • Graduate with honors in Medicine and Surgery, Luca started his academic career as clinical pharmacologist involved in clinical and research activities at the division of toxicology and clinical pharmacology of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. From 2009 and 2012, Luca has been author or co-author of 21 scientific publications on internationally recognized journals and 20 abstracts. In 2012 he obtained a post-graduate degree in Pharmacology. In 2018, Luca strengthen his managerial profile with an Executive MBA (Bologna Business School).

    • At 30 years old, Luca started his new life in the pharma industry. After an initial experience in Menarini, Luca moved to Chiesi Farmaceutici (his current company) where he created a new R&D function fully dedicated to the evaluation of new opportunities. In his career, Luca evaluated more than 1250 different compounds in all stages of development and in different therapeutic areas. He is currently leading two groups: one dedicated to the assessment of assets and R&D due diligence coordination and a new team focused on the evaluation of start-ups and disruptive technologies. He has been involved in more that 15 deals with a nominal value close to 2 B$.

    • Luca founded a consultancy company, Science for Business Consulting, supporting venture capital funds in R&D assessments of potential opportunities.

    • Luca is an enthusiastic and proactive leader embedding clinical, scientific and business skills. In Chiesi, he has been involved in several strategic exercises and he was recently involved as workstream leader of the open innovation group.

Luciano Adorini

PHD

  • Luciano has served as Intercept’s Chief Scientific Officer from 2008 until recently when he has named Head of External Scientific Research. He has over 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience.
  • He was a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at BioXell S.p.A., where he was responsible for advancing a pipeline of products based on vitamin D receptor agonists in multiple disease indications. During his tenure, BioXell raised significant capital from international venture capital firms, and was listed at the Swiss stock exchange.
  • Earlier in his career, he served as associate director of Roche Milano Ricerche, and was research director of a unit at the Preclinical Research Center, Sandoz Pharma, Ltd., in Basel, Switzerland.
  • He has authored over 300 journal articles and other scientific publications, becoming a highly cited researcher in immunology, with a focus on immune suppressive and immunoregulatory mechanisms in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. He is a board member of a number of peer-reviewed publications and has served as president of the Italian Society of Immunology, Clinical Immunology and Allergology.

Lucio Rovati

MD

  • Lucio is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Rottapharm Biotech S.r.l. He joined the Company following the entrepreneur footsteps of his father, Professor Luigi Rovati who was the founder of the Rottapharm Group.
  • Lucio graduated in Medicine in 1985 and obtained a Postgraduate specialization in Clinical Pharmacology in 1989 at University of Milan. He completed his training as attending physician in Internal Medicine and served as research fellow in the Department of Medical Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology of the University of Milan, School of Medicine.
  • In over 25 years in Rottapharm, he served as head of Clinical Pharmacology and Clinical Research before becoming Chief Scientific Officer, directing all R&D activities of the Group, and Executive Medical Director responsible for all international medical activities of the Company and its subsidiaries. He founded Rottapharm Biotech in 2014.
  • After holding similar positions at the Universities of Naples and of Parma, since 2003 Lucio is 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.
  • He is an active member of several international scientific societies, 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.
  • Lucio is the author of over 175 full papers in peer reviewed international scientific journals (H-index=42).

Luigi Gavazzeni

DR

  • Luigi is Axxam’s Chief Financial Officer since 2005. He got his Degree in Electronic Engineering with specialization in management and information systems at the Politecnico di Milano.
  • He has spent the first period of his professional career at Biopolo S.c.a.r.l., a technology transfer consulting firm based in Milano, having the opportunity to successfully managed the start up of several strategic and corporate development projects for a number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.
  • In 2002, Luigi joined Bioxell S.p.A. as Finance Director.
  • He is also founder and CEO of Biocity Services, a small service and consulting company located at the OpenZone Science Park in Bresso.
  • Luigi has extensive experience in project management and a broad knowledge of finance, accounting and tax principles, regulations and financial control.

Marco Fumagalli

DR

  • Marco is co-founder of the Swiss based investment firm Continental Investment Partners, of which is one of the two Managing Partners.
  • Marco has a 15 years significant transaction track-record as a Global Partner at the Private Equity house 3i Group, with significant results in the management of investments in both private (Giochi Preziosi, Coelsanus Preserves, Vis Pharmaceuticals, Newron) and listed companies (Biosearch Italy, Datamat, Novuspharma).
  • In 2010 he became the Head of the Private Equity at Swiss family office Leponte SA and during 2012 he led the public to private takeover of Corin Group plc, an orthopaedic implants company then listed in London.

Massimo Gulisano

MD, PHD

  • Max is Professor of Applied Biology at University of Catania, Italy and director of the laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology at the Department of Drug Sciences.
  • He is Medical Doctor with a PhD in Embryology. He was a researcher at CNR (I), MRC (UK), San Raffaele (I), and KCL (UK); he received a Mini-MBA™: Global BioPharma
  • Entrepreneurship from Rutgers University, NJ (USA) in 2010.
  • His research activities have been devoted to the understanding the molecular mechanisms in Experimental Neurobiology and Experimental Oncology, as documented by more than 70 articles published on leading international scientific journals
  • Max has been the Scientific Director of the molecular oncology biotech IOM Ricerca (I), for 10 years. Moreover, he was founder and CEO at EResearch and ALMA, two Italian companies in the field of Medical and Environmental Biotechnology‪. ‬
  • He founded and managed for 3 years, since its inception in 2010, the Translational Medicine and Biotechnology Campus (ViBiotech) in Catania (I).
  • He has been member of the board of Assobiotec, and of Italian Crowdfunding Network (ICN) and he is member of the board of Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie (CIB).

Miguel Mutti

DR

Miguel Mutti is a senior executive with 25 years’ experience in general management, business development and M&A, integration and restructuring in the healthcare and pharma industry.
After starting his career in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney/ Citigroup in the M&A and ECM, Miguel Mutti joined the industry where he spent the last 15 years in various roles and geographies, including General Manager and CEO in US and Italy, Corporate Development Officer at Chemo Group (now Grupo Insud), VP Head of M&A at Grunenthal and SVP Corporate Development Head EMEA and Global Head BD Neurology at Lupin.
Miguel also serves as board advisor to biotech and medtech companies and is currently managing partner at Sin&rgetica Healthcare, an advisory firm advising clients in Corporate and Business Development activities including M&A and licensing, Debt and Equity raising, technical due diligences and commercial assessments, as well as co-investing with clients and partners in selected transactions.

nicolò briante
nicolò briante

Nicolò Briante

DR

  • Law graduate, with international experience of research in the field of Business Law at Cambridge University and UCL, Nicolò has been a student at Collegio Borromeo of Pavia and a great Medtech and Biotech enthusiast.

  • He acquired experience in this field during a period spent in San Francisco as a selected student from the Mind the Bridge Start Up School.

  • Founder & Ceo of D-Heart, medical device startup changing the way of monitoring heart conditions of cardiac patient from home. D-Heart has raised over $1,5M to date from top tier investors and is still presenting the most exciting clinical data for selfcare use on cardiac patients. D-Heart was the recipient of many awards, including: Red Dot Design Award and ADI Index Award as the best medical design product of 2018. The solution is distributed in more than 24 countries around the world.

  • Forbes 30 under 30 Healthcare 2019 nominated by Forbes Magazine Italy among young leaders in Healthcare.

Paolo Bellocco

DR

  • Since 2010, Paolo is CEO of GDS Communication, a communication and marketing agency in the Healthcare sector, which joined " The European House Ambrosetti " in April 2023.

  • He is Principal Expert and Member of the Development Committee of “The European House Ambrosetti ".

  • Since 2022 he is President of Confindustria Giovani di Como and Vice President of Confindustria Como.

  • Since 2023 he is part of the "Rotary Club Como" and "Amici di Como".

  • He graduated in Economics from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and in Marketing from the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.

  • He holds certifications in Budgeting and Controlling and in New Digital Communication from the 24h Business School, in Business Accounting from «Chartered Institute of Management Accountants" and in Value-Based medtech: How to Succeed in a Challenging Environment from SDA Bocconi.

  • Previously, Paolo has worked for international companies such as Alcon, Carat and Accenture.

Paolo Fundarò

VICE CHAIRMAN, DR

Paolo Fundarò

VICE CHAIRMAN, DR

  • Mr. Fundarò has been Genextra’s chief financial officer since its inception in 2004 and he has served as a member of the board of directors of Genextra’s portfolio companies.
  • In particular, he is currently Chairman of Intercept Pharmaceutical and Innovheart, Director of Erydel, Managing Director of Congenia.
  • Before joining Genextra Mr. Fundarò was in charge of finance and strategic planning for Fastweb from 2000 to 2004. Previously, he worked in London for investment banks, including Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse).
  • Mr. Fundarò has a degree in Business Management from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

Pierluigi Paracchi

DR

  • Pierluigi is founder, Chairman and CEO at Genenta, a gene therapy company focused on cancer immunotherapy.
  • He has been founder and CEO of Quantica SGR, an Italian Venture Capital firm with 100M€ under management, and Venture consultant for Sofinnova Partners, an European VC leader in Life Sciences with 2.6B€ under management.
  • He was investor and Board Member at Ethical Oncology Science, acquired by Clovis Oncology (Nasdaq: CLVS), for up to 420M$ (upfront 200M$ + milestone 220M$), plus 
license with Servier for 80M$.
  • Pierluigi raised more than 140M$ from private and institutional Investors and generated 720M$ cash/equity in enterprise value.
  • He has been also Independent Member of the Research and Innovation Commission at the Italian Ministry of Health

Roberto Barzi

Dr, MBA

  • Roberto is an investor in the biotech space, with +15 years of investing experience spanning from early stage to private equity deals across multiple geographies.
  • He serves on the Board of multiple life-science companies throughout Europe and the US, including Vasopharm GmbH (Germany, traumatic brain injury), GNS Healthcare (Cambridge, digital health), Medinet (UK, outsourcing services).
  • Roberto was a member of 3i’s Private Equity team in London and Milan, investing across sectors but with a particular focus on healthcare. He was previously based in New York with the international merchant bank Greenhill & Co.
  • Roberto graduated cum laude from Università Bocconi (Milan, Italy) and holds an MBA with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Roberto Galli

DR

  • Roberto is Vice President Finance at Newron Pharmaceuticals since 2012.
  • He joined Newron in 2002. Since, he has covered various managerial positions within the Finance Department and has been involved in the IPO, secondary fund raising, M&A and other strategic corporate transactions.
  • He started as auditor at Coopers&Lybrand (CL), before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he served as Senior Auditor & Business Advisor dealing with companies from the pharmaceutical, fashion, energy and automotive industries.
  • He has more than 18 years of experience in biotech, finance and auditing.
  • He holds a degree in Business Economics from the University Luigi Bocconi in Milan and he is registered with the national register of auditors.
  • Roberto has extensive international accounting, controlling and tax experience overseeing Newron group subsidiaries based in Sweden, Switzerland, USA and UK.

Stefano Buono

DR

Stefano Buono is an accomplished physicist and alumnus of The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Until January 2018, Mr. Buono served as Chief Executive Officer and board member of Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), an international radiopharmaceutical company he founded in 2002. The company traded under the ticker symbol AAAP, until it was acquired by Novartis for $3.9 billion. Mr. Buono still acts as a consultant for Novartis.

Mr. Buono is also a director of Abeona Therapeutics, a Nasdaq Listed biopharmaceutical company (ticker: ABEO) focused on developing novel gene and cell therapy approaches for potential treatment of individuals impacted by life-threatening genetic rare diseases,

Mr. Buono is Chairman of Planet Holding LTD a global leader in integrating smart solutions and social innovation practices in the design and development of affordable real estate housing projects. Planet is currently building in Brazil the first two Smart City for Affordable Housing in the world.

Mr. Buono is Chairman of LIFTT, a private company wholly owned by the Links Foundation, whose founding institutions are Politecnico di Torino and Compagnia di San Paolo.  LIFTT focuses on stimulating and supporting technology transfer from research institutions and generating revenues and a positive impact through the economic exploitation of research and innovation outcomes.

Mr. Buono is also the founder of Elysia Capital, his single Family Office based in London and Turin, focused on social impact investments in the field of Sustainable Innovation, Wellbeing, Education, Art and Culture.

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