Leadership
Our Team
A wide range of
expertise with a
singular focus.
We are a team of specialists with extensive experience working with and supporting patient communities, driven by our mission to bring new therapeutic options to people living with rare diseases. Individually, we bring varied expertise and backgrounds to our work. Collectively, we are guided by our values — they shape who we are, how we rise to challenges, and keep us grounded in our focus.
Francesco De Santis
Chairman, Italfarmaco
Francesco De Santis
Chairman, Italfarmaco
Francesco De Santis was born in 1956 in Milan and obtained a pharmacy degree from the University of Milan in 1981. With over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, he is currently the Chairman of Italfarmaco S.p.A.
Francesco De Santis started his career at Italfarmaco in 1981 at the age of 25. Throughout his journey within the company, he has held significant positions, including General Manager, Director, Chairman of Italfarmaco S.p.A., and Chairman of Italfarmaco Holding S.p.A. In each of these roles, he played a key role in the internationalization process and the establishment of all Group companies.
Additionally, from 2012 to 2019 he was a Member of the Technical Research and Innovation Committee of Confindustria and served as Vice President of Farmindustria from 2011 to 2019.
Today he is a Member of the Presidential Committee of Farmindustria and, since 2020, he holds the position of Vice President of Confindustria for Research & Development.
Francesco Di Marco
Chief Executive Officer, Italfarmaco
Francesco Di Marco
Chief Executive Officer, Italfarmaco
Francesco Di Marco is a senior global biopharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of leadership experience across major multinational companies. He is the new CEO of Italfarmaco Group, bringing a strong track record in organizational transformation, commercial excellence, and global product strategy. Before joining Italfarmaco, he served as Head of Human Pharma Region at Boehringer Ingelheim, a role equivalent to Chief Commercial Officer, where he led global commercial operations spanning more than €20B in revenue and 15,000 employees. He also served as Global Head of Oncology, overseeing the full oncology portfolio—from research to commercialization—with a €1B budget and a pipeline of 30 assets.
Prior to Boehringer, Francesco spent 16 years at Amgen, consistently alternating between operational roles (General Manager for Canada and Italy, Oncology BU Director in Germany) and strategic global roles (Global Commercial Lead for Prolia, International Brand Director Oncology). This combination equipped him with both executional rigor and strategic depth. He also held a senior regional role at Takeda as EUCAN Head of Oncology, driving performance and transformation across Europe and Canada.
Francesco is an international manager who has worked across a wide range of markets in North America, Europe, and global headquarters settings, leading diverse teams and steering major businesses in highly competitive environments. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology while working as a researcher at Genentech, grounding his executive leadership in deep scientific expertise.