“Target 1.1 billion”. Ilaria Villa at the helm – Corriere.it

Elena Zambon, 58 years old and 4 children, president of the pharmaceutical company founded by her grandfather Gaetano 117 years ago in Vicenza and of which she is an equal shareholder (25% each) with her two sisters (on the board) and her brother, called to the first time a woman, Ilaria Villa, at the operational head of the company, which has had its headquarters and laboratories in Bresso, near Milan, since 1961. «I chose skills and competencies», specifies the president, who says she has no «never pursued gender equality, it came naturally. Today, however, there are 4 women and 4 men on Zambon’s executive committee, while 51% of the 2,800 employees globally are women (2,470 in the Pharma business).

Rather, Zambon is interested in «hiring young people», who «are digital natives» and «digitization will impact the whole world of health, including pharmaceutical companies, which will have to reconsider their role from drug makers to service providers,” he says. «We are a knowledge company constantly challenged by innovation, which you never know when and how it was born. We can only create the conditions for people to express themselves at their best».

The beautiful OpenZone campus, designed in 2019 by Michele de Lucchi to host 33 companies, many start-ups, as well as Zambon, serves this purpose: «It favors random collisions, this headquarters represents the open enterprise. We are a community where people are at the centre, united by a relationship of trust and collaboration». And pampered by the “Benvivere” program, introduced in 2007, which guarantees medical visits, a canteen on a lake in the countryside, a library with newspapers, books and a grand piano and the possibility of taking lessons, a gym, a hairdresser, an osteopath and a free shuttle from the metro .

Ilaria Villa, 49 years old and with two children, arrived in Zambon in May 2022 and now, following her appointment as CEO, she will have the task of leading the new phase of development. The goal of the new strategic plan for 2027? To bring Zambon Spa «to 1.1 billion in turnover in 2027, an Ebitda (gross margin) equal to 25% of turnover by 2027, thanks to drugs against rare diseases, which could account for up to 50% of revenues, and the thrust of the American market, on which we are preparing to land», anticipates the manager from Monza. For this reason, “490 million investments in R&D and a further 164 million in technological plants have been planned between now and 2027”.

It’s a big leap compared to the 765 million in revenues and 153 million in Ebitda (20% of turnover) with which Zambon closed 2022, a year that marked “the return to normal”, which exceeded 724 million in turnover in 2019, after the turbulent 2020 and 2021, when turnover fell to 638 million for two years, due to “a historical portfolio strongly exposed to respiratory diseases”, which have drastically decreased in the years of the pandemic with the distancing and use of the mask. And they have caused a slowdown in drugs to counter them, such as Fluimocil, launched by Zambon in 1965 and still its “best seller”.

Zambon focuses heavily on the US market, which “represents 4% of the world population and absorbs 40% of the value of the drug”. It is building a branch in New Jersey. «The first real launch will be Bos», anticipates the CEO. The acronym stands for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, a rare respiratory disease: the results of the clinical study are expected by the second quarter of 2024. A second drug, in phase 3 study, concerns a therapy for bronchiectasis not related to cystic fibrosis .

«Rare diseases are niche products, but they have a valuable scientific position: we want to transform clinical value into economic value both from a business and society perspective,” he says. The first step will be the authorization of the FDA, the US supervisory authority, immediately after which the request to the EMA is expected, for the landing in Europe. Then there could be Japan and Canada». If it invests to transform itself into a new player in rare diseases “through new acquisitions”, such as Breath was for example in 2019, to which the new molecule for Bos is connected, Zambon does not forget to develop the historical portfolio, identifying new formulations, because «identifying new formulations is also innovation, such as the use of the molecule of Riluzole for sublingual ALS, which we will launch first of all in Germany. A big difference for those who cannot swallow», says the president.

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