Lucio Iannone was one of our Emerging Leaders in 2023, but since then has been promoted to
head of health investments at Leaps by Bayer, the impact-focused corporate venture unit for
pharmaceutical and chemical group Bayer.
Having initially joined the unit in 2017, Iannone now manages the Leaps healthcare team and says he is delighted to see some earlier investments come to fruition, as several startups are due to get readouts from their first clinical trials in 2024.
“It is still a long road, but early clinical trials give you a hint if you are on the right track,” says Iannone. “Getting a drug from the bench to injecting it into a human is a big thing. In the past five years, we managed to bring several companies to that stage so it is a good achievement. Now we have to hope that we can actually bring treatments for patients around the world.”
Iannone, who is known among his colleagues and peers for being a great leader and team member, is held in high regard by his portfolio company founders, several of whom nominated him for the award again this year.
“I have been in a biotech company and seen the struggle that the company goes through, so I am always trying to support CEOs as much as possible.”
Iannone puts this down to having a lot of empathy for founders. Having worked earlier in his career as business development for RNA drug developer Silence Therapeutics, he has a distinct understanding of the difficulties startups face.
“I have been in a biotech company and seen the struggle that the company goes through, so I am always trying to support CEOs as much as possible. I think that has paid off as very strong relationships,” he says.
This year, Iannone plans to invest more in slightly later-stage companies that are closer
to IND stage starting clinical trials. He is also seeking more investments in Europe, having
invested heavily in the US during the past few years.