BIOWORLD

Angels aim to boost biopharma start-up activity in Italy

By Cormac Sheridan

Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

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DUBLIN – Italy's most successful biotech entrepreneurs are combining their skills and experience in a

newly formed angel investor network, Italian Angels for Biotech (ITAB), which aims to support the

emergence of a new generation of start-ups in Italy.

The group plans to provide seed financing – in the range of €100,000 (US$109,119) and upward – as

well as mentoring and networking opportunities to early stage ventures. "Over the years, we've all

come across very interesting research and innovation, but most of the time there is a large gap

between the idea and the ability of the people involved to transform that idea into a business," ITAB

Chairman Luca Benatti toldBioWorld Today. Bridging that gap is the overarching objective of the new

initiative.

The high-powered group has good access to international venture capital funds – local VC funding is

scarce in Italy – and individual members have already informally helped international funds to tap into

Italian deals. The organization has 24 members so far, but that number is growing. "Very soon we will

be around 50 to 60 people," Benatti said.

The group came together following discussions about the state of Italy's biopharma industry – and

what could be done about it. "We're optimistic about the potential of the country and about the

research that is being performed." Given its scale – the country is Europe's third largest economy and

has a population of 60 million – Italy has never fulfilled its potential in biotech, notwithstanding the

sporadic successes that do arise from time to time. Summit, N.J.-based Celgene Corp.'s eye-catching

deal in 2014 to commercialize Nogra Pharma Ltd.'s antisense drug GED-0301 in Crohn's disease

exemplifies the high-quality, under-the-radar innovation ongoing in Italy. That deal was worth $710

million up front, with almost $1.9 billion more to come in potential milestones.

The country has scientific strengths in a number of areas that are highly relevant to biotech. "In terms

of the science, I would say gene therapy is clearly one important space. Oncology and probably CNS

are two other areas where the science is pretty good in Italy," Benatti said. It also has good clinical

infrastructure, but translational research and funding remain bottlenecks. The biggest problem of all is

the lack of a strong entrepreneurial culture within the country's research community.

The seven-member board comprises a veritable who's who list of Italian biotech. Benatti is currently

CEO of Urbino-based Erydel SpA, a company using red blood cell-encapsulation technology for drug

delivery. He is best known for his longtime leadership of Bresso-based Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA,

whose Parkinson's drug, Xadago (safinamide), is undergoing launches throughout Europe following

its approval in February 2015. (It has a March 29, 2016, PDUFA date in the U.S.)

The others include Alessandro Sidoli, co-founder and CEO of Bresso-based CRO Axxam SpA and

managing director of its German joint venture, Imax Discovery GmbH, of Dortmund, Germany. Sidoli

is also president of Assobiotec, Italy's bioindustry association. Also involved is Ricardo Cortese,

founder and CEO of Italian-Swiss vaccine platform developer Okairos, which London-based

Glaxosmithkline plc acquired for €250 million in 2013. His latest ventures include Basel, Switzerland-

based Keires AG.

Another ITAB board member, Khalid Islam, steered another Italian venture to a lucrative exit in 2014.

Gentium SpA was worth just €25 million when he joined as CEO at the start of 2010; it sold to Jazz

Pharmaceuticals plc for $1 billion just three years later. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 23, 2013.)

Also on the board is Francesco Sinigaglia, who led Bioxell SpA, which Cosmo Pharmaceutical SpA, of

Lainate, acquired in 2009. He also led the sale of ophthalmology drug developer Anabasis Srl to

Dompé SpA in 2012. He currently chairs Paris-based Eyevensys SAS, which is developing gene

therapies for ocular disease. The remaining board members are Marco Fumagalli, managing partner

of Continental Investment Partners AS, a Lugano, Switzerland-based private investment fund, and

Paolo Fundarò, chief financial officer of Milan-based investment fund Genextra SpA, one of the few

active Italian biotech investors. The other members of the club are experienced pharmaceutical and

biotech executives.

The club is open to new membership, but it operates a selective door policy. "We are not looking for

people that just have money," Benatti said. Would-be entrants also need to demonstrate their

expertise, have a successful track record and have the time and interest to become involved with

companies. Members will invest in companies on an individual basis. The group is inviting

applications from start-up companies or even projects that have yet to give rise to a company – it will

screen applicants and then organize pitch events every three or four months.