Francesco De Santis is President of Italfarmaco Holding SpA since 1995 and of some of the Group subsidiaries.

His career in Italfarmaco begins in 1981 at the age of 25 when, after getting his Graduation in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Milan, he joins the company, at the time led by his father Prof. Gastone De Santis (President), and during his career he has been covering the different positions of Managing Director, Director of the Board and President.

In the last 30 years Francesco De Santis has been following and directly participating in the internationalization process of Italfarmaco Group, and in the establishment of all the Group Companies. In particular, the expansion strategy of Italfarmaco, according to De Santis, has been first of all focused on the Southern Europe countries, such as Greece, France, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, and on the concurrent opening of subsidiaries in Russia and Chile, thus opening its doors to other areas. According to Francesco De Santis and Italfarmaco, each local market represents a structure including different segments ranging from generic products to drugs with high biotechnological content. Therefore, the factor affecting the success of Italfarmaco, was the development of specific strategies for each business line, the expansion in new markets being more easily achieved through the specialization and by focusing on a few segments. (Focus Report, aprile 2009).

Today Italfarmaco stands out especially for its commitment to research and its products, always with high therapeutic content, are principally oriented to the cardiovascular, immuno-oncologic, gynecological, dermatologic, orthopedic and neurologic areas.

Francesco De Santis, Activities and Professional Life

The professional commitment of Francesco De Santis has always been aimed at the study and development of pharmaceutical research.

In 2020 Francesco De Santis was appointed Vice-President of Confindustria, with responsibility for Research and Development.

In 2011 Francesco De Santis was appointed Vice-President of Farmindustria, for which he has been covering 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 (Società Italiana Scienze Farmaceutiche, Italian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences) and the prestigious New York Academy of Science. In addition, Italfarmaco was 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.

For further information about the career of Francesco De Santis, his writings and publications and main lectures in medical-scientific congresses, consult his personal website www.francescodesantis.net.

Link to the Profile of Francesco De Santis on Linkedin

Link to Italfarmaco Facebook profile

Video interview