PinCell Appoints Veteran Biotech and Biopharma Executives to Management Team and Board of Directors
6.5.2020 19:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
PinCell, a biotechnology company developing novel therapies for rare dermatological diseases, announced today the appointment of Gabriella Camboni, M.D., as Chief Executive Officer of PinCell and Member of the Board of Directors, and Luigi Costa as Chairman of the Board. Paola Pozzi, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, also joins PinCell’s Board following a successful seed financing of €1.65 million led by Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan. The financing was part of a series of investments recently made through The Sofinnova Telethon Fund, the largest fund in Italy dedicated to early-stage biotech startups targeting cures for rare and genetic diseases.
Dr. Camboni is a clinical pharmacologist with 18 years of experience in oncology drug development. She is Chief Executive Officer of BiovelocITA, Italy’s first biotech accelerator, co-founded by Sofinnova Partners in 2015. Dr. Camboni is also co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Ethical Oncology Science (EOS), an Italian startup dedicated to translational medicine in oncology. Previously, Dr. Camboni co-founded and acted as Head of Development at Novuspharma, a biopharma developing innovative treatments for cancer. Both EOS and Novuspharma are part of Sofinnova Partners’ portfolio alumni.
“I am happy to have the opportunity to help develop a game-changing treatment together with an outstanding scientific team and my long-term associates of Sofinnova Partners,” commented Dr. Camboni.
PinCell also bolstered its Board of Directors with the appointment of Luigi Costa as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Costa has over 25 years of international pharmaceutical and biotech experience. He is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Sofinnova Partners and was the CEO of Nordic Nanovector, a biopharma developing novel targeted therapies for cancer. He also served as Board Member of Oncopeptides AS, a clinical stage biotech company developing a new treatment for Multiple Mieloma. Previously Mr. Costa was Regional Head International at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Amgen in 2014, and held several leadership positions with Amgen including Head of International Oncology Franchise, General Manager of Italy and President of France, Amgen’s largest market outside the US. He also held various leadership positions of increasing responsibility with Eli Lilly both in Europe and in the US.
“I am very pleased to have the opportunity to support PinCell in the development of its innovative treatment for a severe autoimmune disease. I am confident that PinCell’s outstanding scientific team, together with my colleagues at Sofinnova Partners, will be able to bring a new therapeutic option to patients," said Mr. Costa.
PinCell’s lead program targets a rare autoimmune bullous disease called Pemphigus, which is characterized by blistering and erosions of the skin and mucous membranes. The condition is chronic, debilitating and potentially life-threatening. PinCell’s unique solution uses an innovative mechanism that inhibits the development of the typical skin blisters, without suppressing the immune system. This is a central factor that makes the treatment less prone to immune-related side effects, enabling patients to have a better quality of life.
Ms. Pozzi commented: “We are pleased to invest in this exceptional team of serial entrepreneurs who have significant clinical expertise in dermatological disorders. They have built strong relationships with US pharma-experienced consultants and international patients’ associations.”
The financing secured last month will advance the company’s development of first-in-class anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of rare and severe skin diseases with limited therapeutic options.
Carlo Pincelli, M.D., Professor of Dermatology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Co-founder of PinCell, said: “We are delighted to have secured financing from Sofinnova Partners, an investor with unparalleled authority and expertise in the biotech domain, as well as the support of experienced biotech executives. Together we are confident we will progress towards clinical studies for the benefit of patients suffering from these debilitating skin conditions.”
About PinCell
PinCell is a biotechnology company targeting a novel pathological pathway to develop first-in-class anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of rare, severe skin diseases with high unmet medical need. Based in Milan, Italy, PinCell was founded in October 2008 as an academic spin-off of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia by the world-class dermatology experts Prof. Carlo Pincelli and Dr. Alessandra Marconi. PinCell received seed funding from Sofinnova Partners.
For more information, please visit: www.pincell.it
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, with offices in London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of 40 professionals from all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The firm focuses on paradigm-shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners invests across the Life Sciences value chain as a lead or cornerstone investor, from very early-stage opportunities to late-stage/public companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 48 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management.
For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200506005517/en/
Contact information
Media
Gabriella Camboni, CEO
+39 0283991300
info@pincell.it
Bommy Lee
Head of Communications, Sofinnova Partners
blee@sofinnovapartners.com
+33 (0) 6 47 71 38 11
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Energy Announces 6,000 bpd Group III Base Oil Expansion Project24.6.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vertex Energy, Inc. (“Vertex” or the “Company”) today announced it is advancing a project at its Mobile, Alabama refinery to produce crude-derived conventional Group III base oils through the Company’s existing hydrocracker and related processing infrastructure, providing lubricant manufacturers and blenders with an additional domestic source of high-quality Group III supply. The project is designed to add an incremental 6,000 barrels per day of conventional Group III production capacity and support production of 4 cSt, 6 cSt, and 8 cSt Group III base oils using an existing crude-derived hydrocracked vacuum gas oil stream produced at the Company’s Mobile, Alabama refinery. Combined with the Company’s existing re-refined Group III base oil production, this additional capacity is expected to make Vertex the leading Group III producer in North America. Vertex has completed preliminary design work and has procured a high-pressure lubricants hydrotreating unit. The Company plans to start pr
Taktile Secures $110M in Goldman Sachs-led Series C to Power AI Transformation in Financial Institutions24.6.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Taktile, the leader in AI transformation for financial institutions, today announced its $110 million Series C fundraise. Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the round, with participation from Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Tiger Global, Y Combinator, and Dig Ventures. Taktile Fast Facts Taktile enables banks and insurers to transform into AI-native organizations that are increasingly powered by autonomous agents. Demand for Taktile accelerated in 2025, as AI models became capable of automating high-stakes decisions that previously required hours of manual work—from underwriting business loans and assessing claims to catching financial crime. Customers automate and optimize decisions with Taktile by combining its financial services expertise and product built for sector-specific AI use cases. One of the world’s largest insurers is running multiple use cases on Taktile, with projected cost efficiencies of over $90M in claims processing alone. Taktile’s team has a proven
New MetLife Study Reveals a 72% “Confidence Gap” in Ability to Recover from Life's Setbacks24.6.2026 16:25:00 EEST | Press release
A new multinational study from MetLife reveals a striking “confidence gap”: while most adults describe themselves as resilient, their confidence drops by 72% when faced with real-life setbacks. The Confident Pathways Report, conducted across the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Mexico, was designed to better understand how confidence is built and sustained throughout life. The findings underscore the role of opportunity, preparedness, and support in building confidence - factors that help people navigate uncertainty, recover from setbacks and pursue their goals. At a time when soccer is bringing people and communities together around the world, the findings also highlight how early childhood experiences such as sports, education, and mentorship can help foster resilience and gain confidence from a young age. Key findings across the four countries surveyed include: Confidence drops by 72% when adults consider their ability to recover from setbacks. Respondents were far more lik
StatLab Launches CytoPath Disc, Advancing Standardized Cell Block Preparation Worldwide24.6.2026 16:08:00 EEST | Press release
StatLab Medical Products, a leading global developer and manufacturer of pathology supplies and equipment, today announced the global launch of the CytoPath Disc, an innovative cell block preparation technology designed to standardize and simplify cell block preparation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260624368623/en/ Developed as an alternative to traditional cell block methods, which convert concentrated cells suspended in fluid into a paraffin-embedded format for slide-based evaluation, the patent‑pending CytoPath Disc offers a more streamlined and efficient approach. The CytoPath Disc absorbs concentrated cells within a simple, sponge-like matrix, which is then processed, embedded, stained, and sectioned using standard histology workflows. Traditional cell block preparation methods often present challenges in achieving consistent results due to complex procedures, as well as the need for additional equipm
TensorX Launches With €8M Seed Funding Round Led by Darius Cubed Ventures for Bet on European Sovereign AI Infrastructure With Plans to Deploy up to €100M in NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs24.6.2026 16:07:00 EEST | Press release
A team of Irish founders has committed €8 million to Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, including the latest B300 chips, to launch TensorX, a sovereign AI inference platform designed for Europe's AI builders, trusted by regulated industries and already generating revenue from paying customers. The company was founded by Shane Morton, is part of the NVIDIA Inception program and is partnering with Dell on sourcing GPU hardware. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260528791384/en/ (From left to right): Craig Donnelly, Shane Morton, Nicole Morton, Tim Grant At a time when enterprises are racing to adopt artificial intelligence but most remain unwilling to let their data leave European jurisdiction, TensorX offers high-performance inference with zero data retention, running entirely on dedicated hardware in Dublin and Helsinki. TensorX is also in advanced talks around a financing facility to further expand its European footprint,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom