AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 14, 2025--
Avanzanite Bioscience B.V., a rapidly growing commercial-stage European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, announced today the appointment of Giovanni Galliano as General Manager for Italy. As the seventh executive leadership hire in 2025, this appointment further strengthens Avanzanite’s “Champions League” team of now more than 60 pharma professionals, while expanding operations into the European Union's third-largest economy.
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“Italy has been at the heart of Avanzanite’s story from Day One,” said Adam Plich, Founder and CEO of Avanzanite. “Our very first partnership was born there, in Sicily. That was the moment our journey began, and I will always be grateful for that spark and continued inspiration. Today we are proud to return to Italy with a clear mission: to provide the orphan medicines of global innovators and make an impact on the Italian rare disease community,” continued Plich. “We are privileged to have someone of Giovanni’s calibre to lead and build our Italian operations and continue to define the future of rare disease medicine launches in Europe,” concluded Plich.
Giovanni brings extensive experience in rare disease leadership, having launched and secured access to more than 12 orphan medicines and led operations exceeding €100m in annual revenue. During his career with Genzyme, Amylyx, Hansa, Clementia and other companies, he has developed extensive expertise getting orphan medicines to patients, at the national and regional level, involving stakeholders and building operations.
“I am excited to join the Avanzanite team and bring the needs of the Italian rare disease community into focus,” said Giovanni. “Today we realise the vision that was inspired in my home country, and together with Italian physicians, patient associations, and healthcare partners, we will accelerate access to innovative rare disease therapies in Italy, with the promise that no patient is left behind.”
In his role, Giovanni will report directly to the CEO and lead Avanzanite’s Italian operations, overseeing all commercial, medical, market access and general administrative activities. His immediate priorities include building the local team, establishing the Milan-based office and legal entity, and engaging key healthcare stakeholders and the thalassemia community. He will also lay the foundation for Avanzanite’s next phase of international partnerships and product launches in Italy, as part of its pan-European expansion.
Giovanni’s appointment follows Avanzanite’s record-breaking Q3 2025 results, where revenue more than tripled compared to Q3 2024 and grew more than 20% versus Q2 2025. In Q3, Avanzanite also generated its first material revenue in Croatia and Sweden, bringing the total to ten countries with solid commercial foundations. These results reinforce the scalability of Avanzanite’s breakthrough European commercialization platform and underscore the company’s commitment to ensuring that no patient is left behind. “Avanzanite is going truly pan-European – and let’s be clear there is no Europe without Italy,” concluded Plich.
About Avanzanite Bioscience
Avanzanite is redefining launches of rare disease medicines across Europe. Founded in 2022 and based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company partners with biotech innovators to unlock the full commercial value of orphan medicines continent-wide. With our deep expertise in market access, we navigate Europe’s complex landscape like master chess players – ensuring no patient is left behind while delivering measurable impact and growth opportunities for alliance partners.
For more information, visit www.avanzanite.com.
Giovanni Galliano, the GM Italy appointment for Avanzanite Bioscience.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government is expected to approve a “mega” Chinese Embassy close to London’s financial district after years of controversy and political wrangling over the potential security risks it poses to the U.K.
Lawmakers from across the spectrum have urged planning officials to reject China’s application for the new embassy. Critics fear the proposed new building, on a huge site close to London’s financial district and crucial data cables, will be used as a base for espionage. Others say the supersized embassy — set to be the biggest Chinese Embassy in Europe — will pose a heightened threat of surveillance and intimidation to Chinese dissidents in exile.
The decision was initially slated for October, but it was repeatedly postponed after multiple allegations of Chinese spying and political interference piled pressure on the British government.
British media have reported that the decision to approve the embassy will come this week, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's expected trip to China. The closely watched visit would be the first made by a British prime minister since 2018.
A final decision on the embassy is expected by Jan. 20, the deadline set by the government.
Here's a look at why the embassy has been the focus of protests and Sino-British tensions for years:
The proposed embassy at Royal Mint Court — the former site of the U.K.’s coin maker, near the Tower of London — will cover about 20,000 square meters (215,278 square feet) and replace several Chinese official buildings across London.
Critics say the new site sits too close to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London’s two main financial districts.
Conservative Party lawmaker Alicia Kearns said that risks handing over access to data that would give China’s government “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation.” She cited news reports that the building complex would include 208 secret basement rooms close to the data cables.
Dissidents have also been among hundreds of people who have protested the plans, saying a mega-embassy housing large numbers of officials would further China’s repression of activists abroad.
Lawmakers from the governing Labour Party who oppose the plan say concerns include “the recent track record of Chinese espionage cases, interference activities and issuing of bounties against U.K.-based Hong Kongers.”
The site was bought by China’s government for 225 million pounds ($301 million) in 2018, but plans for the embassy have been delayed since.
Local officials rejected the initial application over concerns that the embassy would attract many large protests, affecting the safety of residents and tourists. China resubmitted its proposals after the Labour government took power last year.
Bronwen Maddox, director of the London think tank Chatham House, said she believed Britain's government should approve the proposed mega-embassy “given that MI5 and MI6 (U.K. intelligence agencies) have said they are not worried about the city cables underneath it."
“I guess that you could see why there is cause for concern, but what I think the government should be much tougher on is what exactly is China going to do with that embassy, never mind the building; what about the people in it? Why does it need so many? What are they going to do?"
China has complained about the seven-year delay in approving the project, saying the U.K. was “constantly complicating and politicizing the matter.”
“The development scheme of the new Chinese Embassy is of high quality and has been highly recognized by local professional bodies,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement in October. “The application complies with diplomatic practice and local regulations and procedures.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian has warned that if the embassy isn’t approved, “the consequences arising therefrom shall be borne by the U.K. side.”
Recent high-profile cases involving alleged Chinese espionage have raised alarms about the embassy.
In November, the domestic intelligence agency, MI5, issued an alert to lawmakers warning that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit and cultivate them using LinkedIn or cover companies.
Authorities believe the alleged “headhunters” were trying to gain access to sensitive information about Parliament and Britain’s government.
Beijing has strongly denied the claims, calling them “pure fabrication and malicious slander.”
Earlier, Britain’s government faced questions on whether it had interfered in the trial of two alleged Chinese spies in order to preserve good ties with China.
Former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry were charged last year with spying for Beijing. But their trial collapsed at the last minute because the U.K. government refused to brand China a threat to national security, the country’s chief prosecutor said.
Facing criticism that he is not taking a tough enough stance on the security risks, Starmer has stressed that while protecting national security is non-negotiable, Britain needs to keep up diplomatic dialogue and cooperation with the Asian superpower.
“This is not a question of balancing economic and security considerations. We don’t trade off security in one area, for a bit more economic access somewhere else,” he has said.
Last year, Starmer said Chinese President Xi Jinping personally raised the matter during a phone call.
Opposition lawmaker Priti Patel derided Starmer as “Beijing’s useful idiot in Britain.”
“Starmer’s ‘reset’ with Beijing is a naive one-way street, which puts Britain at risk while Beijing gets everything it wants,” she said.
Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this report.
A general view of Royal Mint Court where is planning site for the new London Chinese embassy, near London's financial district, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A general view of Royal Mint Court where is planning site for the new London Chinese embassy, near London's financial district, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
FILE - Protesters hold umbrellas, placards, and flags as they demonstrate against the proposed building of a new Chinese embassy, and to mark the 11th year of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, in London, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan, file)
FILE - Protesters hold umbrellas, placards, and flags as they demonstrate against the proposed building of a new Chinese embassy, and to mark the 11th year of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, in London, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan, file)
