Pedro Franco | Senior Director, Head of Europe Global Regulatory & Scientific
Merck Serono

Pedro Franco has an extensive educational background, holding a degree in Pharmaceutical Science (PharmD) and a Master's in Organic Chemistry (M.Sc) from the University of Lisbon in collaboration with Imperial College in London, a PhD in Orphan drugs and Rare diseases from the University of Sheffield, and an Executive MBA from Business Bayes School at City University in London. He also completed his music studies in Cello at Lisbon Conservatory. Currently, Pedro serves as the Head of Europe Global Regulatory and Scientific Policy at Merck KGaA, focusing primarily on regulatory policy, intelligence and strategy. He also serves as the liaison for the China region concerning regulatory and policy topics. Prior to his role at Merck, Pedro worked at the European Medicines Agency for 12 years in various roles and departments, with a focus on regulatory affairs, international collaboration, assessment, authorization of medicines, orphan drugs, paediatrics, peer review and quality. Before that, he was employed at INFARMED, the Portuguese national competent authority, as a pharmaceutical assessor. Earlier in his career, he worked as a postgraduate research fellow in the area of toxicology, carcinogenic chemistry, and drug development. Pedro Franco has many scientific publications on the area of regulatory sandbox, Expedited Drug Development, rare diseases and orphan drugs, oncology and compassionate use.