Francesco Setti

Francesco Setti is a founding partner of Avvocati Associati Franzosi Dal Negro Setti in Milan, where he heads the firm's life sciences and healthcare department, and his practice underpinned its recognition as winner of the Pharmaceutical Sector Law Firm of the Year in Italy award at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. Widely regarded as one of the leading experts in pharmaceutical law in Italy and internationally, he has built a career at the intersection of law, healthcare regulation and the commercial life of the pharmaceutical industry.

Setti's mastery of pharmaceutical and healthcare law and regulation lies at the centre of his practice, which advises companies operating in one of the most closely regulated sectors of the economy. His work reflects a long engagement with the field: he joined the predecessor practice, Franzosi Pesce Rubino, in 1974, later joined Professor Franzosi's firm, and became a partner in 1996. Over this period he has become closely associated with the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, guiding clients through the regulatory and contentious issues that arise in the development, authorisation and marketing of medicines and related products.

The firm itself traces its origins to 1963, making it a long-established Milanese practice with a strong tradition in intellectual property and specialist commercial work. Franzosi Dal Negro Setti has a solid reputation in litigation, advisory work, out-of-court dispute resolution and arbitration across strategic matters, including intellectual property, life sciences, corporate and business law, labour law and industrial relations. Its clients are drawn from a broad span of industries, among them mechanics, chemicals, automotive, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and information and communication technology, reflecting the firm's capacity to serve technically sophisticated businesses.

Setti's standing in the pharmaceutical field extends into the international arena through his role as a founding member of the Conférence Bleue, a European network that has brought together leading law firms in the pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical sectors since 1997. Membership of such a network connects the firm to specialist practitioners across Europe, an important asset for pharmaceutical clients whose products and regulatory concerns cross national borders, and keeps its advice aligned with developments at European level.

Pharmaceutical sector law demands a command of the regulatory frameworks that govern medicines together with an understanding of the intellectual property, commercial and litigation issues that accompany them. As the head of life sciences and healthcare at a firm with more than six decades of history, and as a founding member of a pan-European pharmaceutical law network, Francesco Setti combines deep sector knowledge with an international perspective. The recognition conferred by the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards affirms his standing as a leading pharmaceutical lawyer and reflects the reputation that Franzosi Dal Negro Setti has established as a specialist adviser to the life sciences and healthcare industries in Italy and beyond.