Fulvio Bracco

Fulvio Bracco was born on 15 November 1909 in Neresine on the island of Lošinj in Istria, to Giovanna “Nina” Salata, sister of the senator of the Kingdom Francesco Salata, and Elio Bracco, town secretary of Neresine and Ossero.
Fulvio's childhood was marked by an episode that will remain indelibly in his memory. The childhood of Fulvio and his younger brother, Tullio, was marked by an episode that would remain indelibly in his memory and that would be decisive for the fortunes of his family: his father Elio, a leading figure in Istrian irredentism, was arrested with his entire family on charges of high treason and imprisoned in Austria, where he spent two very hard years.
At the beginning of the 1920s the Bracco family moved to Trieste where his father Elio became sub-prefect in 1921. During this position he was called, because of his knowledge of German and Russian, to be part of the inter-allied commissions in charge of defining the borders between states after the end of the First World War. Elio Bracco, thanks to his relationship with the Merck family of Darmstadt, owners of a well-known German pharmaceutical company, founded in Milan in June 1927 the Società Italiana Prodotti E. Merck for the purchase and sale of their chemical and related products.


On 1 October 1934 Fulvio Bracco officially joins the company.


In 1935, following the company's development, the company bought a building in Via Fucini with new manufacturing and packaging departments. In the following year the company name changed to Società Anonima Bracco, already Italmerck, and Fulvio Bracco was appointed Technical Director.
In 1949, after the difficult years of the Second World War, the company started work on a new production complex in Lambrate, designed by the architect Giordano Forti, which would be extended until 1980.


Fulvio Bracco è an entrepreneur who understood from the outset the fundamental importance of research both for the company and above all for patients. This conviction motivates his corporate policy choices and leads him to focus on contrasting media, broadening his horizons beyond national borders and forging business relationships in many countries. Bracco's research laboratories began an important research activity that allowed it to systematically investigate the characteristics of already known compounds and to start studying original processes and new molecules.


In the 1970s Bracco researchers under the leadership of Professor Ernst Felder, director of the Research Laboratory in Milan, patented a new molecule, Iopamidol, known as the first non-ionic contrast agent characterised by high tolerability and safety for patients. Iopamidol è still today a reference product for the entire international scientific community in the field of diagnostic imaging.


During his long entrepreneurial activity Fulvio Bracco has held many associative positions and received many awards: in 1959 he was appointed President of the National Union of Pharmaceutical Industries (UNIF); in 1963-1965 he was President of the Groupement International de l’Industrie Pharmacetique Des Pais de la Communauté Economique Européenne (GIPP), of which he was a co-founder in 1959.


In 1963 the President of the Republic Antonio Segni awarded him the honour of Cavaliere del Lavoro; in 1983 he was appointed President of the Gruppo Lombardo dei Cavalieri del Lavoro (Lombardy Group of the Knights of Labour) and later national vice-president; in 2001 the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi appointed him Dean of the Order of the Knights of Labour.


President of Assofarma until 1969 then, in the period 1969-1983, è President of the ’National Association of Chemical Industry – Aschimici, then Honorary President.

From 1969-1983 è President of the Italian-Germanic Chamber of Commerce.

Between 1970 and 1972 è Vice-President of Confindustria and in 1981 è appointed Honorary President of Farmindustria.

In 1988 the Municipality of Milan awarded him the highest city honour, the Ambrogino d’oro.