18.05.2026 10:00 Rita Longobardi
Meet Aaron Petruzzella, CEO of Biodelphis Therapeutics. The biotech company is advancing antibody-peptide conjugate therapies for cancer and other hard-to-treat diseases. Aaron and the other nine Swiss National Biotech Team members will travel to Boston in June.
Name: Aaron Petruzzella
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland)
Nationality: Swiss
Graduated from: EPFL
Prior role: Postdoctoral Researcher
Founding team members: Dr. Aaron Petruzzella, Prof. Elisa Oricchio, Prof. Bruno Correia
Number of employees: 2 people full-time, 1 person at 30%
Money raised: CHF 1.1 M
What does your product or solution do, and what makes it unique?
At Biodelphis Therapeutics, we are developing Antibody-Peptide Inhibitor Conjugates (APIC), a new drug modality that enables the creation of superior treatments in several disease areas by overcoming challenges of on-target and off-tissue toxicity. The strength of our protease inhibitor drugs resides in their specificity and targeted delivery, which increases their efficacy and safety by ensuring drug accumulation only in the cells of interest. Our drugs go only where they are needed, sparing healthy tissues while efficiently inhibiting their target at the right location.
What trend or shift in your industry is currently creating the biggest opportunity for you?
Cancer therapy is moving faster than ever before towards precision medicine, with new targeted therapies becoming available every year. At Biodelphis Therapeutics, we believe that the enormous success of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) will naturally evolve towards the widespread use of antibody conjugates carrying targeted therapies, like our protease inhibitors. This is a great opportunity for us to have a strong impact on shaping the next generation of ADCs that will become available to patients.
How did the idea for your startup originate?
I was working on a new generation of protease inhibitors with the goal of improving their efficacy and safety, and I spent a lot of time wondering whether what I was developing would ever end up being used by patients. Then I saw the first positive results in animal models of different aggressive tumors and decided that I had to build a startup to continue the development of these promising drugs. The support of my PhD and Postdoc supervisors, Prof. Elisa Oricchio and Prof. Bruno Correia, was essential for me to gain the confidence needed to take up this challenge.
Which market are you addressing, and what potential do you see for your startup in that market?
Our protease inhibitors are addressing multiple therapeutic markets, but our initial focus is on lung adenocarcinoma and osteoporosis, two very different diseases presenting unique challenges, which turn out to be suitably tackled by our novel drug modality. We have the potential to revolutionize the market of targeted therapies in oncology and bring a new blockbuster drug to the market of osteoporosis therapeutics.
What impact do you want your technology to have five years from now?
I hope that in five years the first patients will be able to benefit from our solutions in the context of efficacy clinical trials. I would also love to see our startup become a trailblazer in the field, with many more new therapies under development exploiting a similar drug modality and our targeted approach.
What major challenges have you faced so far?
Last year’s roadshow to convince the first investors in the context of the seeding round was intense but exciting! I also had to put a lot of effort into ensuring that we could reach the best possible licensing agreement with EPFL for the patent applications that I had filed together with the university during my PhD, but in the end, we were all happy with the final agreement.
What motivates you on tough days?
I keep in mind the end goal: bringing new medicines to patients with severe unmet therapeutic needs. Developing new drugs is very challenging, but the process is really fascinating: I am learning a lot every day, and when the working days become very long, I quickly feel better by thinking of the time when the first patients will benefit from our drugs. This keeps me going!
Why did you decide to join the Venture Leaders Roadshow, and what are you most excited about?
The Venture Leaders Roadshow in Boston is a fantastic opportunity to meet US-based investors and get visibility on the other side of the Atlantic. I am looking forward to hearing their opinion about Biodelphis Therapeutics and making new connections, and I am happy to share this experience with nine other startup entrepreneurs!
