Hugo Sigman

Hugo Sigman (born 1 January 1944) is an Argentine psychiatrist and business mogul. He is the founder, CEO and –jointly with his wife, biochemist Silvia Gold— the only shareholder of Grupo Insud, a business conglomerate with a presence in the fields of pharmaceuticals, agroforestry, cinema, nature and design.

Hugo Sigman
Born (1944-01-01) 1 January 1944
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupation(s)Businessperson, co-founder of Grupo Insud
SpouseSilvia Gold
Websitehugosigman.com

Early life, education and psychiatry

Hugo Sigman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 1 January 1944.[1] He graduated from the medical school of the University of Buenos Aires in 1969. The same year, he finished his studies in social psychology at the university under Enrique Pichon-Rivière. Sigman completed his residency at Aráoz Alfaro Hospital in Buenos Aires Province.[2]

In 1970, he joined the Psychiatry Service of Policlínico Lanús as a resident. He continued his career, first as Chief of Residents, and then as founder and director of the Psychiatric Emergency Unit at the same hospital. In 1976, Sigman fled to Spain following the Argentine coup d'état.[3] He worked at the Psychiatry Service of Hospital Clínico de Barcelona.[4]

Business career

In 1978, Sigman and his wife, biochemist Silvia Gold, received a loan of US$400,000 from his father-in-law, Roberto Gold, a businessman in the pharmaceutical industry in Argentina. The couple co-founded Chemo Group, a chemical-pharmaceutical company, and the first company in what would later become Grupo Insud.[4]

In the 1980s, Sigman and his family moved back to Argentina, where he developed his existing businesses and developed new work areas.

Life sciences

Sigman's professional career relies especially on Human Sciences, where, through Insud Pharma (also known as Insud Group), he has developed three companies:

  • Chemo: a company that produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms (FDFs) to 1,200 pharmaceutical companies around the world, with 15 manufacturing R&D centers
  • Exeltis: a company that offers female health products in more than 40 countries
  • mAbxience: a biotech company created in 2008, which produces biosimilar medicines

In 2011, Sigman founded, together with other renowned biotechnology companies, the Argentine Chamber of Biotechnology,[5] with the aim of strengthening the public-private collaboration in biotechnology and encouraging its development in the region.

The Public-Private Consortium for Research and Development of Innovative Oncology Therapies, developed the first therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer, Racotumomab (Vaxira),[6][7][8][9] introduced in 2013.

Inspired by that model, other partnerships were made with institutions like University of Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Roffo and Garrahan Hospitals, Academia Nacional de Medicina, and several foreign universities.

Approximately 250 researchers work at the partnerships supported by the Group, doing basic and applied research; 100 of them are dedicated to the development of products for treating cancer.[10]

Agribusiness

In 1998, he started agricultural and forestry activities in different locations of Argentina, focused on genetic improvement and sustainable production, with companies Garruchos, devoted to farming and cattle-raising; Pomera, ranked as the top Argentine-capital forestry company; and Cabaña Los Murmullos, a cattle breeding ranch.

Sigman is also a shareholder of Bioceres, an Argentine biotechnology company focused on agricultural production. This company developed a gene that enables the production of wheat, corn and soybean resistant to draughts and soil salinity, and has licensed its products to the USA, France and India.

In Argentina's veterinary industry, Grupo Insud partners with Biogénesis Bagó, an animal vaccine production company authorized by the government of China to build a plant in that country.[11]

Communication and art

Sigman co-founded the filmmaking company Kramer & Sigman Films (K&S Films) with Oscar Kramer in 2005. They had previously collaborated on the 2004 film El perro.[12] The company has produced the films On Probation (2005), Chronicle of an Escape (2006), Los Marziano (2010),[13] The Last Elvis (2012), Seventh Floor (2013), Wild Tales (2014),[14] The Clan (2015), The Summit (2017), and Heroic Losers (2019).[3]

Through Grupo Insud, Sigman participates in cultural companies in Argentina and Spain such as the Southern Cone edition of Le Monde diplomatique, the Latin American version of The New York Review of Books, and Capital Intelectual, which includes a line of publications in Spain under the publishing brand Clave Intelectual.

Sigman is an art and culture enthusiast. Between 2010 and 2013, he was a member of the Advisory Council of the National Fine Arts Museum of Argentina. He is a member of the Board of Patronage of Museo Reina Sofía, in Madrid, Spain. Additionally, the venue of Grupo INSUD in Buenos Aires (the traditional Díaz Vélez Palace), built in 1907 and recently restored, has won several architectural awards and has been declared a protected heritage site of Buenos Aires City.[15]

Mundo Sano foundation

Sigman's father-in-law, Roberto Gold, created the non-profit Mundo Sano Foundation in 1993.[16] By the late 1990s, Silvia Gold chaired the foundation, which has funded projects in Argentina, Spain and Ethiopia[17] addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) including Chagas, dengue and soil-transmitted helminths.[18][19]

Awards
  • In 2008, he received the Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards, in the "Innovative Entrepreneurs" category.[20]
  • In 2009, Sigman took part in the 15th Conference of the Argentine Industrial Union, and was guest speaker representing Argentina at Harvard and Columbia Universities.
  • In 2011, jointly with Silvia Gold, he received an award from Asociación de Dirigentes de Empresa (ADE) in the "Agroindustry" category.
  • In September 2011, Sigman was guest speaker at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development held in Geneva, Switzerland. His lecture was about the manufacturing of vaccines and biotechnological products in Argentina. The Sinergium Biotech model of integration for the production of vaccines and biotech products involves technology transfer, export potential and the creation of 320 jobs, said Sigman.
  • In 2012, he was a speaker at the Global Investment Forum, organized by the United Nations in Qatar.[21] He presented the state-of-the-art productive investment model based on partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies and public entities.
  • In 2013, at the 11th International Symposium on AIDS, organized by Fundación Huésped, he was recognized for the achievements of the Research, Development and Innovation Consortium presented by his companies.
  • In 2013, the Endeavor Foundation named him the "Model Entrepreneur" for his values and track record.[22]
  • In 2015, Sigman received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, from EY consulting firm (Ernst & Young) in Argentina.[23]
  • In 2018, he received his 2nd Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards, this time in the "Industry Entrepreneurs" category.[24]
  • In 2019, he received the Trajectory Award for the Rural supplement of the Clarin newspaper during the 133rd Rural Exhibition.[25]

Personal life

Sigman is married to biochemist Silvia Gold. Together, they were ranked the sixth wealthiest people in Argentina by Forbes magazine in 2020, with a net worth of US$2 billion.[26] Sigman has three sons—Leandro, Mariano, and Lucas.[12] He is Jewish[27] and a fan of the River Plate football club.[28]

References
  1. González, Enric (3 September 2020). "Hugo Sigman, o homem que vacinará a América Latina contra a covid-19". El País Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese).
  2. Ylarri, Mariano. "Hugo Sigman, el médico multitasker que modificó el paradigma farmacéutico - Multitaskers". www.amexcorporate.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  3. González, Enric (30 August 2020). "Hugo Sigman, el hombre que vacunará a Latinoamérica contra la covid-19". El País (in Spanish).
  4. Terrile, Sofia (6 September 2017). "Socios en la vida y en la oficina: un psiquiatra y una bioquímica crearon un imperio empresarial". La Nacion (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. "CABIOTEC - Argentinian Biotechnology Chamber". CABIOTEC.
  6. Cacciavillano, W; Sampor, C; Venier, C; Gabri, MR; de Dávila, MT; Galluzzo, ML; Guthmann, MD; Fainboim, L; Alonso, DF; Chantada, GL (July 2015). "A phase I study of the anti-idiotype vaccine racotumomab in neuroblastoma and other pediatric refractory malignancies". Pediatr Blood Cancer. 62 (12): 2120–4. doi:10.1002/pbc.25631. PMID 26154941. S2CID 40463685.
  7. Reichert, JM (2015). "Antibodies to watch in 2015". mAbs. 7 (1): 1–8. doi:10.4161/19420862.2015.988944. PMC 4622967. PMID 25484055.
  8. Hernández, AM; Vázquez, AM (January 2015). "Racotumomab-alum vaccine for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer". Expert Rev Vaccines. 14 (1): 9–20. doi:10.1586/14760584.2015.984691. PMID 25420897. S2CID 41582145.
  9. Gajdosik, Z (April 2014). "Racotumomab - a novel anti-idiotype monoclonal antibody vaccine for the treatment of cancer". Drugs of Today. 50 (4): 301–7. doi:10.1358/dot.2014.50.4.2116670. PMID 24918647.
  10. "CIGB-300, a synthetic peptide-based drug that targets the CK2 phosphoaceptor domain. Translational and clinical research". Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. 328. 2010. ISSN 0300-8177.
  11. Primera firma extranjera dedicada a producir vacunas en china
  12. Ise, Ernesto (24 August 2020). "Hugo Sigman: Renaissance man's firm to co-produce vaccine". Buenos Aires Times.
  13. "Murió el prestigioso productor argentino Oscar Kramer" (in Spanish). Otros Cines. 6 April 2010.
  14. O'Sullivan, Michael (26 February 2015). "Satirical 'Wild Tales' stands out among Oscar's foreign language nominees". Washington Post.
  15. Sociedad Central de Arquitectos
  16. Linde, Pablo (8 April 2016). "La filántropa que se tomó en serio al Chagas". El País (in Spanish).
  17. "From Salta to Ethiopia: Mundo Sano replicates its original work in the fight against soil-transmitted helminths". Archived from the original on 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  18. Global Partners Are Taking the "Neglect" out of "Neglected Tropical Diseases" Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  19. Chagas disease - inheriting a silent killer BBC
  20. "Hugo Sigman". Fundación Konex. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  21. "Programme of meetings, April 2012, Journal UNCTAD XIII, Doha, Qatar" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  22. "Infobae - Envedor awarded Hugo Sigman for his career".
  23. Hugo Sigman, Entrepreneur of the Year Clarín
  24. "Hugo Sigman". Fundación Konex. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  25. "Advances in agriculture". Clarin. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  26. "Ranking Forbes 2020: quiénes son y cuánto tienen los 50 argentinos más ricos". Forbes Argentina (in Spanish). 23 July 2020.
  27. "Prominent Argentine businessman calls Jewish pharmaceutical CEO a 'Moishe' in anti-Semitic post". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 19 April 2021.
  28. Sigal, Pablo (29 August 2020). "Hugo Sigman: 'El único negocio que tengo con el Estado representa el 1,5% de mi facturación'". Clarín (in Spanish).
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