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Valentina Sartori

PartnerZurich

Offers distinctive expertise in pharma R&D, helping clients to transform their organization, harness external innovation, and boost productivity

Valentina is a leader of the Life Sciences Practice in Europe. With a PhD in modelling and simulation for optimal drug administration, since joining McKinsey Valentina has built broad experience working across strategy, innovation, analytics transformation, and organization –with a special interest in R&D. Valentina is a global co-leader of our Development service line, focused on helping clients bring medicines to patients faster, at lower cost while de-risking the path to market.

Her work with pharmaceutical clients has included:

  • working with the president of a top oncology company to define its ten-year strategy and leadership plan.
  • developing the first in industry analytics-driven transformation of clinical trials, leading to faster recruitment and lower spend
  • supporting the leadership team of multiple Biotech companies scaling their operating model for growth.
  • driving the integration preparation and post-close support for the largest industry portfolio swap across two major pharmaceutical companies.
  • working with the research unit of a top-10 company on a ground-breaking model that harnessed external innovation to save 30 percent of costs.
  • advising a major European company on its strategy for a novel oncology drug, including focus indications and a development pathway, prior to a multi-million-euro investment.

Valentina also leads our Women’s Health service line, which supports clients across different industries (Life Sciences, Providers, Public Health) on how to capture the potential of improving health outcomes for women.

Published work

Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies,” McKinsey Health Institute, January 2024

Accelerating clinical trials to improve biopharma R&D productivity,” McKinsey & Company, January 2024

The dawn of the FemTech revolution,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

Unlocking opportunities in women’s healthcare,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

Winning with AI is a state of mind,” McKinsey & Company, April 2021

Unlocking the power of translational medicine,” McKinsey & Company, February 2020

Designing an agile transformation in pharma R&D,” McKinsey & Company, July 2019

“Value-driven drug development–unlocking the value of your pipeline,” in Rathnam Chaguturu (ed.), Collaborative Innovation in Drug Discovery, John Wiley, 2014 (PDF–293 KB)

Education

ETH Zurich
PhD, technical sciences

Milan Polytechnic
MSc, chemical engineering