Many of today’s pharmaceuticals are based on inorganic chemistry; working more closely with nature would potentially allow more interventions more closely aligned with the body’s own metabolism and disease responses and be better for the planet. Jacopo Orlando, a sustainability manager at Aboca, explains that the company takes a systems medicine approach that is based on clinical trials.
Systems medicine
Aboca is an Italian healthcare company that harnesses the potential of complex plant-based substances for human health and wellbeing. It applies a systems medicine approach, which considers the human body and the environment in which it lives as a complex integrated whole.
Aboca has established a fully vertically integrated supply chain, from the production of quality raw materials and organic farming, right up to testing the pharmacological and clinical effects of its products – products which are 100% natural.

The company cultivates 80 species of medicinal plants on over 1,400 hectares of land in Tuscany and Umbria, using organic farming methods.
It uses organic certified raw materials and avoids the use of chemically synthesized substances, even in the production stages of the manufacturing plant. Only water and food-grade organic alcohol are used as solvents for extracting natural substances.
Today it has some 1,400 employees and operates in 26 countries.
Jacopo Orlando to speak at the R&D Management Conference
Jacopo Orlando’s role involves project development, economic assessments, and corporate sustainability for Aboca’s agri-business. He is also Vice President of AssoBio (the Italian Organic Industry Association) and a member of the Board of Directors of FederBio Servizi. Jacopo will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2005 R&D Management Conference: ‘Innovation and Biodiversity’.
Find out more about Aboca at aboca.com.

R&D Management Conference 2025:
Innovation & Biodiversity
Institute of Management of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa
30 June – 2 July 2025