Francesco De Santis was born in Milan in 1956.

In 1981 he graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Milan.

Since 2013, he has been President of Italfarmaco SpA, a family-owned pharmaceutical company founded in 1938.

He joined Italfarmaco at the age of 25 and over time held the positions of General Manager, Director, Chairman Italfarmaco Spa and Chairman Italfarmaco Holding SpA. In these roles, he directly participated in the internationalisation process and in the establishment of all Group companies.

From 2011 to 2019 he is a Member of the Presidential Committee of Farmindustria and former Vice President of Farmindustria.

From 2012 to 2019 he is a Member of the Technical Committee for Research and Innovation of Confindustria.

From 2020 to 2024, he held the position of Confindustria Vice President for Research & Development.