Saco de Visser is the scientific director of FAST (Centre for Future Affordable and Sustainable Therapy development). He is a pharmacochemist (VU Amsterdam), registered clinical pharmacologist and holds a PhD on A Question Based Approach to Drug Development (medicine, Leiden University). He has 12 years of experience in managing, financing and conducting international clinical drug research at the Centre for Human Drug Research, ZonMw and Nycomed (now Takeda). He is the initiator of the ZonMw funding programme for rational pharmacotherapy, which he further developed together with Benien Vingerhoed. From 2014 onwards, he combined his position at ZonMw with positions as Director of Cluster Development at Leiden Bio Science Park, Head of Education at Paul Janssen Futurelab Leiden (LUMC) and advisor at Platform Medicine and Society (AmsterdamUMC). He was the initiator and currently scientific director of FAST. Saco is a member of various national and international committees and working groups that advise government, public and/or private parties, on drug development and/or financing.
