From Competitive Athlete To Pharma CEO

Michele Garufi, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Nicox, has done whatever was needed to get the company where it is today, with two promising product candidates in their advanced pipeline, as well as two out-licensed products. When it was time for Garufi to launch Nicox, there was no venture capital presence in the healthcare sector in his home country of Italy. So he and his Nicox co-founders looked outside the country, and found financing in France. They kept their research center in the Milan, Italy, area, and now have a development center in the United States. In this episode of the podcast, Garufi tells our host Rob Rothman, MD, that Nicox will continue to become more U.S.-centered, and completely focused on ophthalmology. The company was founded on Garufi’s interest in nitric oxide (NO) donation, trying to apply NO properties to different therapeutic areas.Garufi credits some of his ability to overcome obstacles to his competitive swimming days.  “When I was young,” he said, “for 7 or 8 years I was on the national Italian swimming team, and went to the World Championship. I had a great experience but with great sacrifice and a lot of resilience.” He pointed out that in a sport like swimming you train for a long time, with one goal, perhaps a major championship, which may or may not end well, and said this is not unlike pharmaceutical research, where after years of effort, a drug may not work. This was part of the story of Nicox.Click play to hear Michele Garufi tell the whole story!