Luca Benatti

Biography

 Luca Benatti, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2014. Dr. Benatti has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has been serving as the chief executive officer and a director of EryDel S.p.A., a drug delivery company focused on rare diseases, since June 2012. From 1999 until May 2012, Dr. Benatti was the founder and chief executive officer of Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A., a company listed on the Swiss Exchange. Under his guidance, Newron developed a pipeline of potential therapies, with its most advanced compound, Xadago, recently approved in Europe and under regulatory review in the United States for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. He also was instrumental in finalizing multimillion licensing deals with Merck Serono, Meiji Seika and Zambon Pharma S.p.A., and in the acquisition of Hunter Fleming, a U.K.-based biotechnology company. From 1985 to 1998, he held various R&D positions at Farmitalia, Pharmacia and Pharmacia & Upjohn. Dr. Benatti graduated from and performed his post-doctoral training at Milano Genetics Institute. He serves as director on the board of Newron (SIX: NWRN), as chairman of the scientific advisory board of Zambon, as chairman of the Italian Angels for Biotech association, as a member of the board of Assobiotec, the Italian Biotech Association, and member of the jury of the European Biotechnica Award. He has authored several scientific publications and holds a number of patents.

Research Interest

 Pharmaceutical Research development