Francesco Costa

Francesco Costa is an Associate Professor of Practice of Government, Health & Not for Profit at SDA Bocconi School of Management. His collaboration with SDA Bocconi began in 2012, initially focusing primarily on the Drug Observatory of CERGAS (Center for Research on the Management of Healthcare and Social Services). Over time, he expanded his research activities to other thematic areas related to economic evaluations in healthcare, Health Technology Assessment, and Market Access.

Francesco has directed numerous courses for employees of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, coordinating several sponsored training programs for doctors, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals. Since 2018, he has been directing various editions of managerial training courses dedicated to drug access. Additionally, he teaches the Pharmaceutical Policy course within the Master in Management for Health (MiMS) at SDA Bocconi. From 2023, he holds the role of Coordinator of the Drug Observatory.

His current research activities focus on three main themes: 1) economic evaluations of healthcare technologies (cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and budget impact analysis); 2) analysis of the pharmaceutical and medical device market in terms of performance, innovation, and response to public policies; 3) Market and Patient Access. He has published several articles in national and international refereed journals and authored chapters in various editions of the OASI Report (Observatory on Companies and the Italian Healthcare System), including the chapter analyzing healthcare spending, the main Italian publication on the healthcare system. Francesco is also the author of several articles published in "Il Sole 24 Ore Sanità" and a book on the organization and management of clinical trials. Additionally, he authored a chapter on the main drug policies in the book titled "L'Osservatorio del farmaco 2018".

He participates as an expert in advisory boards for companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device sector. Before starting his career at SDA Bocconi, he worked at two major multinational pharmaceutical companies in the areas of Market Access and New Business Development. Francesco earned a second-level master's degree in Management for Health at SDA Bocconi and a Ph.D. in Morphological Sciences at Università degli Studi di Milano. He previously graduated from Università degli Studi di Milano in Medical Biotechnology.