What are your key priorities as Country Head for Switzerland & Austria at Recordati Rare Diseases?
As Managing Director, it all comes down to one simple priority: ensuring that patients with rare diseases have timely access to our life-changing therapies, while delivering sustainable business growth in alignment with Recordati’ s mission. We’re talking about very small, often overlooked patient groups, so every single person matters.
On the leadership style, my humble ambition is to foster a culture of empowerment, accountability, and purpose. In rare diseases, every decision can impact a single person, so I make sure my teams feel connected to the “why” behind our work, not just the “what.”
How do you balance local market needs with global strategic goals?
Having been on both the global and local sides, I like to see myself as a bridge between the two worlds. Global strategy gives us direction and consistency, local markets are the place where the impact occurs.
Undeniably, and especially in rare diseases— each market has its own reality: different healthcare systems, reimbursement processes, and cultural approaches to care. My job is to adapt the global vision so it works here, while also making sure our local insights flow back into global decision-making. It’s a two-way street.
What are some of the biggest challenges in bringing rare disease therapies to market, and how has your experience shaped your approach to overcoming them?
Rare diseases come with their own set of hurdles. Patient numbers are tiny, so clinical trials and evidence generation are more complicated. Healthcare systems can be slow to adapt, and awareness among healthcare professionals is still too low—which means many patients wait years for a diagnosis.
I’ve learned that the best way to tackle this is to engage early and broadly: bring stakeholders into the conversation right from the start, leverage on real-world evidence and invest in awareness campaigns that help healthcare professionals spot the signs earlier.
Our motto “focus on the few” reflects on our commitment to ensuring that no patient is left behind.
With your experience across companies like Takeda, Roche, and Chiesi, how do you see the future of rare disease treatments evolving?
Industry interest in rare diseases is growing rapidly, partly because orphan drugs enjoy strong incentives and partly because scientific advances are more feasible. This is attracting not just small biotech innovators but also large pharmaceutical companies, which are increasingly acquiring or partnering with specialized firms to expand their rare disease pipelines.
The regulatory environment is evolving significantly when it comes to orphan drugs and rare diseases. Agencies like the EMA, SwissMedic and FDA are experimenting with accelerated review pathways and early scientific advice programs, making it easier for companies to bring niche therapies to patients without compromising safety.
This will be amplified in the future representing a beautiful sign of understanding the urgency to approve medicines to an unserved population.
What kind of scientific breakthrough should we expect to see in rare diseases in the next 5-10 years?
Three words will be shaping the rare diseases business over the next decade: precision, speed, and personalization.
Scientific breakthroughs in gene and RNA-based therapies, such as CRISPR, base editing, and engineered tRNA, are opening the door to treatments that can directly correct the underlying genetic errors rather than simply managing symptoms or chronically replacing missing items.
These innovations are being amplified by the integration of artificial intelligence into drug discovery and clinical trial design, allowing researchers to identify new targets more quickly, predict treatment responses, and run smaller, more efficient studies.
How do you navigate regulatory & access challenges when launching a rare disease therapy in different markets, and what advice would you give to companies expanding globally?
Launching a rare disease therapy across multiple markets is as much about strategy and timing as it is about regulatory compliance. Because patient populations are small and often geographically scattered, the usual “launch in one big market first” approach can leave critical patients waiting for years.
The companies that succeed tend to start by mapping the global regulatory landscape early, long before pivotal trials are complete, and aligning their development plan with the requirements of multiple agencies at once. This means anticipating differences in data expectations—for example, the FDA might be willing to approve on a single pivotal study with robust endpoints, while the EMA may request additional real-world evidence or long-term safety data, and markets like Japan or Brazil may have unique bridging study requirements.
From a commercial standpoint, pricing and market access can be even trickier than regulatory approval. Rare disease therapies often face intense scrutiny over cost-effectiveness, particularly in markets with formal health technology assessment (HTA) processes.
For example, countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia may require robust quality-of-life data and budget impact models, whereas others—especially in parts of Asia and Latin America—may have slower reimbursement pathways but faster regulatory approvals.
Coordinating the regulatory and access strategies ensures that approval and reimbursement happen as close together as possible, avoiding long delays between marketing authorization and patient access.
Looking back at your career, what has been the most rewarding experience in working with rare diseases, and what advice would you give to someone aspiring to make an impact in this field?
In rare diseases, the distance between you – employee – and the patient is very short, shorter than any other business segment in healthcare. This means that one of the most rewarding experiences in working with rare diseases often comes from seeing the tangible difference a therapy can make in the life of a single patient or family.
In rare diseases, every milestone feels deeply personal: the first time a child meets a developmental milestone previously thought impossible, a parent’s relief at finally having a treatment option, or a clinician’s ability to offer hope where before there was only symptom management. This element of human connection makes the work far more meaningful than any market share number or quarterly result.
For someone aspiring to make an impact in this field, I’d offer two key pieces of advice. First, embrace the complexity. Rare disease work is scientifically and operationally challenging—there are fewer patients, less precedent, and often limited funding—but these very constraints force creativity and innovation. You’ll need to think holistically, bridging science, regulation, market access, and advocacy in ways that larger, more established therapeutic areas rarely require.
Second, never lose sight of the patient’s voice. In rare diseases, patients and advocacy groups are not just stakeholders; they are partners in research, clinical trial design, and even regulatory engagement. Building trust and co-creating solutions with them will not only strengthen your programs but also keep you grounded in why the work matters.