IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri

The Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS is a not-for-profit private foundation established in Milan in 1961, under the terms of the will of Mario Negri (1891-1960),  a Milanese jeweller and philanthopist.   He nominated Silvio Garattini, who was a founder,  as its director, a post that he held until June 2018. Since July 1^st 2018 the director is Giuseppe Remuzzi.

Work started in 1963 with a group of 22 people – today about 750 people are employed in the Institute’s three main sites, at the Milan main office, in Bergamo and Ranica, near Bergamo.

The Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS does biomedical research and its aims are to help defend human health and life.  In early 2013 the Institute achieved the Italian recognition as an IRCCS –  Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, for pharmacology and clinical tests for neurological, rare and environmental diseases.   Besides research, the Institute runs training courses for laboratory technicians and graduate researchers.   It also organizes initiatives for the diffusion of scientific culture in biomedicine, in general and as specific backing for healthcare practice, and more rational use of drugs.

The results obtained by researchers at the Institute are set out in more than 14,000 scientific publications in international journals;  these have aroused such interest that in 2003 four of the top 50 Italian researchers in all scientific disciplines most cited throughout the world had worked at the Institute.
The Mario Negri Institute does not patent its discoveries, preferring to make them available free of charge to the scientific community and patients.  It has always remained independent of industry, the state, politics, finance, religious ideologies and universities, standing clearly on the side of sick people in need of help.  A single source may not fund more than 10% of the Institute’s budget. This leaves it free to select its research topics, with the utmost freedom in collaboration, with no obligations or restrictions of confidentiality or secrecy of data.  This freedom to take initiatives and plan action means it can be as efficient as any private organization at the service of public interest.