One company from discovery to development

Laura Baldi currently serves as Group Chief Financial Officer of Philogen. Since Philogen’s listing on the Italian Stock Exchange, she has also held the position of Financial Reporting Officer (Dirigente Preposto) with statutory responsibilities relating to financial reporting controls, accounting procedures and the certification of the Group’s financial statements.

A registered Chartered Accountant and Statutory Auditor, she brings extensive expertise in financial management, corporate governance and corporate secretarial functions. Since joining Philogen in 2003, she has held positions of increasing responsibility within the Administration, Finance and Control functions.

She holds a degree in Economics and Banking Sciences from the University of Siena. Prior to joining Philogen, she served as Group Controller at ENEL S.p.A. and provided independent management and tax advisory services to corporations.

Emanuele Puca is responsible for Business Development, Investor Relations and Operations at the Philogen group. He graduated in Medicinal Chemistry at La Sapienza University and performed his Ph.D. studies at ETH Zürich focusing on the generation of antibody-cytokine fusion proteins for the treatment of extracranial and brain tumors. Dr. Puca is author of several peer-reviewed publications in international scientific journals and is recipient of the Swiss Brain Tumor Foundation 2021 and of the Pfizer Research Prize 2022.

Kevin graduated with a degree in Law from Santa Clara University and a degree in Business Administration from San Jose State University. He has been a licensed attorney (California) since 2004. After working for a litigation practice in California, he began collaborating with JMU Law Firm in Florence. He worked for Philogen as an outside Counsel from 2006 to 2009 and has joined Philogen as in-house Counsel in 2009.

Patrizia graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Siena and obtained an LLM in European and Comparative Law from the University of Oxford. After her admission to the Italian bar, she worked for the Carnelutti law firm before joining Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she focused on M&A and corporate law.

Patrizia worked as Legal Counsel for Targetti Sankey S.p.A. and then for Novartis Vaccines and GSK Vaccines, consolidating her expertise in pharmaceutical companies, before joining Philogen in 2016, where she is currently responsible for the legal department.

Carolina holds a degree in Law from the University of Siena. She began her professional career at a law firm in Siena specialising in civil and employment law, where she worked for three years. During this period, she also lectured at the University of Siena.

She then spent ten years at Manpower, a leading global recruitment and staffing company, initially as a Recruiter and subsequently as a Branch Manager.

In 2008, she joined Philogen, where she has since been responsible for leading the Human Resources function.

Frederik graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zürich and performed an industrial Ph.D. at Philochem in which he focused on the generation and characterization of novel fully-human monoclonal antibodies. Frederik is author of several peer-reviewed publications in international scientific journals and joined the Business Development team at Philochem in 2023.

Roberta Bozzella is Head of Regulatory Affairs at Philogen and has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with extensive expertise in global regulatory strategy, drug development, inspection readiness and auditing.

Throughout her career, she has held positions of increasing responsibility in Regulatory Affairs, R&D and Quality Assurance, leading regulatory strategies for innovative medicinal products across the US, Europe and other international markets. Her experience spans the full product development lifecycle, from early clinical development through marketing authorization, and includes extensive interactions with major Health Authorities, including FDA and EMA, as well as supporting inspection readiness activities and regulatory and quality audits.

Before joining Philogen, Roberta held senior Regulatory Affairs positions at GE Healthcare, Italfarmaco and Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, working across a broad range of products, including biologics, new chemical entities, orphan drugs, radiopharmaceuticals and contrast agents.

She holds a Master’s degree in Regulatory Affairs from the University of Pavia and a degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies from the University of Milan.

Alfredo Covelli was trained as a medical oncologist at the Department of Neoplastic Disease, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. Before joining the pharma industry, he held academic positions at the Institute of Medical Pathology, School of Medicine in Naples and at the Division of Hematology, School of Medicine in Rome. Over the last 30 years, Dr. Covelli held a variety of Global and Country Management positions in the pharma industry, both in Clinical Research and in Commercial Operations in Italy, France, Switzerland and the United States (Farmitalia, Pierre Fabre, Sandoz, and Aventis). Before joining Philogen as Chief Medical officer, he served as Vice President and Head of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs for Europe at Novartis Oncology.

Dr. Covelli is also serving as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to various Biotech Companies developing innovative therapies in oncology.

Dr. Teresa Hemmerle studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zürich, where she obtained her Master of Science degree and the Swiss Federal Diploma in Pharmacy. She subsequently pursued her doctoral studies at ETH Zürich in the group of Prof. Dario Neri, focusing on the targeted delivery of immunomodulators for the treatment of cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases. She was awarded the ETH Silver Medal for her doctoral thesis.

In 2014, Teresa joined the Philogen Group as Clinical Project Manager with a particular focus on oncology and neuro-oncology and in 2023, she was appointed Head of Project Management and Head of Strategy.

Since 2025, she serves as Head of Clinical Development and Strategy, overseeing the clinical development and strategic advancement of the Philogen group and leading the Clinical Project Management and Clinical Data Management teams.

Barbara Panzeri is a biologist by training with over 25 years of experience in clinical research, clinical development, and medical affairs, with a strong focus on oncology.

After spending the early years of her career in laboratory research, she decided to transition into clinical research, starting as a Clinical Research Associate. She spent many years at Novartis, where she had the opportunity to work in both Italian and international cross-functional teams, gaining extensive experience in clinical development and medical affairs within a global pharmaceutical environment. She subsequently joined a global Contract Research Organization (CRO), further broadening her experience in the management of international clinical programs, before joining Philogen.

Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to contribute to the development of innovative oncology therapies and to work closely with multidisciplinary teams across different functions and geographies.

Virginia Papa graduated from the University of Siena in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. She has more than twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, holding positions of increasing responsibility in Production and Quality Assurance, with extensive experience in the manufacturing of sterile medicinal products for human and veterinary use. She joined Philogen in 2021 as CMC Quality Assurance Manager and subsequently became Corporate Quality Assurance Manager and Qualified Person. Since May 2025, Virginia Papa has served as Site Director and Qualified Person at Philogen. She has been an AIFA-authorized Qualified Person since 2015 and has extensive experience in GMP compliance, pharmaceutical quality systems and GMP inspection readiness according to EU and US FDA regulatory requirements.

Guido Fineschi is the Plant Manager and Qualified Person at Philogen’s Montarioso site, where he oversees site operations, GMP compliance and the release of monoclonal antibodies for clinical trials. He developed his expertise in pharmaceutical quality control at GSK Vaccines and Thermo Fisher Scientific before joining Philogen in 2023. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical sciences and a master’s degree in analytical chemistry, both awarded with honours. He became a licensed chemist in 2024 and obtained Qualified Person authorisation from AIFA in January 2025. His experience combines analytical expertise with cross-functional leadership, people development and a strong commitment to continuous improvement.

Dr. Samuele Cazzamalli studied Medicinal Chemistry at Universitá degli Studi di Milano, where he graduated with a thesis on the development of novel techniques for the application of biocatalysts in flow chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Carlo De Micheli. Samuele performed his PhD at ETH Zurich in the group of Professor Dario Neri with a focus on non-internalizing antibody- and small molecule-drug conjugates for the treatment of cancer. Samuele currently heads research at Philochem. He is the recipient of the 2024 EFMC Prize for Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry, of the 2025 SCI Young Scientist Award (Med Chem Division), and of the 2026 Swiss Chemical Society Industrial Science Award.

The updated list of peer-reviewed publications by Dr. Cazzamalli can be found on Google Scholar.