Franco will lead the commercial activities in Europe and Middle East and continue to build on the strong footprint created by the commercial team led to date by Thomas Fritz. Franco will continue to be based in Italy where he has led Q-linea’s direct sales team and market-building activities.
 
“Franco is the ideal candidate to carry on the torch lit by Thomas since the introduction of ASTar to the market.  He will work closely with our European and Middle East distribution partners and customers and leverage our learnings from Italy which has proven to be an early-mover in rapid AST”, says Q-linea CEO Stuart Gander.
 
Chief Commercial Officer, Thomas Fritz, and Chief Medical Officer, Tiziana Di Martino will leave Q-linea end-of-year after transitioning responsibilities within the executive team.  “I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude for the pioneering leadership and expertise provided by Thomas and Tiziana who have both been instrumental in putting Q-linea and ASTar on the map.  We look forward to growing their legacy”, says Stuart.
 
Q-linea is a leader in rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (rAST). “I am excited to build on the strong foundation established by Thomas and Tiziana and look forward to accelerating our commercialisation across EMEA where we have a strong pipeline going into 2025”, says Franco Pellegrini.