Read the Conversation
Conversation highlights:
- Celebrating a year into the role, the mission is to build a solid, sustainable strategic plan in a highly dynamic market.
- bioMérieux has demonstrated a strong commitment to public health since the 1970s meningitis crisis in Brazil. This commitment was recently strengthened by a facility-use agreement that grants Fiocruz 10 years of access to the Rio de Janeiro site for a new center for R&D and Diagnostics Innovation.
- Recently acquired Brazilian genomics company mapping food safety contamination (Neoprospecta) — currently being integrated, with full legal entity merger targeted for next months.
- Data infrastructure and management as the future of diagnostics — moving from reactive results to predictive, population-level trend intelligence that supports government and hospital integration and fast decision-making.
- The Brazilian diagnostics market has a critical access gap: A small and selected part of the population can access high complexity advanced diagnostics, with a willingness to pay out-of-pocket solutions, while the healthcare sector is looking for efficiency increase on both segments: private segment (mainly driven by employer benefits) and public (SUS), struggling with the high demand and lack of innovation.
- bioMérieux Brazil's revenue compound is 75% clinical, 25% industry, with significant growth potential in both segments, positioning efficiency and technology as the core commercial value proposition.
- The efficiency argument reframes diagnostics as infrastructure: innovation and technology can absorb a double-digit CAGR over the years without expanding additional investments in a physical space and extra people costs.
EF: What attracted you to bioMérieux, and what mission were you given when appointed as Vice President and GM for Brazil?
LT: My mission is to showcase Brazil's potential and to understand the dynamics we're facing across marketing, economics, geopolitics, and competition. I was tasked with creating solid visibility across these dynamic topics while building a sustainable future regarding the consistency and predictability of results through a solid strategic plan. This challenge attracted me because I came from an oncology diagnostics business in an American company culture, whereas at bioMérieux, the infectious disease operates in a much more dynamic environment. In this context, infectious disease diagnostics serve as a bridge between surveillance systems and medical assistance, leveraging patient clinical outcomes to drive faster, more informed decisions at both individual and population levels. I saw an opportunity to contribute by moving strategy to execution, building teams to face challenges, and delivering not just short-term results but establishing solid strategic partnerships for the future. This opportunity allows me to share learnings from my past experience while learning every day from people here who have worked at the company for over 20 years. I truly understand the power of collaboration and how we can develop each other in this environment, making a real and positive impact on public health and providing people access to advanced diagnostics.
EF: Can you share more about bioMérieux's footprint in Brazil and your recent partnership with Fiocruz?
LT: bioMérieux has a solid connection with Brazil dating back to the 1970s, when Brazil faced serious public health issues, and we supported Brazilian public health with meningitis vaccination. This was our first connection with Brazil, and we supported the population in overcoming the meningitis crisis through public vaccination. Since then, we started local manufacturing and commercial operations with solid connections to the founder's mission and the Mérieux family. The family began partnerships to support public health and diagnostic development, helping people across different regions, not only in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro but also in the north and northeast. In Q4 2025, we signed an agreement to transfer our manufacturing site to Fiocruz for the next 10 years. This agreement reinforces bioMérieux's long-standing commitment to public health and marks a strategic milestone in our partnership with Brazil — we are proud to collaborate with Fiocruz to strengthen the country's capacity to develop and manufacture world-class diagnostics for its population. As Fiocruz assumes operations at the facility, bioMérieux will move to our new offices in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, positioning the company for the next chapter of growth and innovation in Brazil.
EF: How does the Neoprospecta acquisition fit into bioMérieux's commitment to Brazil and your expectations for driving augmented diagnostics in Latin America?
LT: Neoprospecta is another example of how Brazil has opportunities to showcase capabilities not only in Brazilian territory but globally. It is a great company that offers genomic data to map microbiological risks and provide quality solutions in the industry segment. Neoprospecta Solutions was identified and acquired by bioMérieux in 2024, with the objective of being explored globally as part of an industry solutions portfolio expansion. The company is located in Florianópolis, southern Brazil, and was incorporated to add genomic data, generated through high-technology next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, to our portfolio. The solutions address industry applications, including microbiological risks, food safety, and quality controls, while supporting efficient countermeasures and corrections to prevent contamination and protect human health. There are opportunities to grow and expand into industry segments such as pharma, food & beverages, and quality control, and we are working to expand for future applications.
EF: How do you see the role of diagnostics in Brazil? Is it shifting from being viewed as a lab expense to critical health infrastructure?
LT: I believe diagnostics is a hard, dynamic sector, and Brazil has a big opportunity globally. Brazil is the #1 Latin American potential market with a complex health system and regulations, but it offers a huge potential due to its continental territory and mixed population. For too long, diagnostics have been treated as a cost line in the health budget rather than what they truly are: the foundation upon which every clinical decision is made. That perception is changing, and our country has a unique opportunity to lead that cultural and structural shift in the region. For the future, I see the potential of the diagnostics segment to improve IT solutions and the integration of new technologies, enabling faster, more precise decisions, increased efficiency, and saving lives. The diagnostics labs are DATA manufacturers that consistently generate multiple relevant pieces of information in limitless quantities. The potential will shift from an isolated diagnostic center without integration, a solid data infrastructure, or comprehensive trend analysis (w/o contamination wave visibility) to a Dx Master Data hub. This is the point: in the future, diagnostics will be about data concepts and integrations to anticipate trends through data analytics, monitoring critical issues, and antimicrobial resistance. The big concern is how we connect the dots to build better data and information, taking this information as a strategic advantage and value proposition. What we are witnessing is a gradual but powerful recognition that diagnostics are indeed critical health infrastructure — and the opportunity ahead lies in how thoughtfully and collaboratively we can build the ecosystem to unlock its full potential. Once we have these tools, diagnosis, as we use it today, will be more than a step; it will be a true value proposition. Data will be the future.
EF: What resources does the bioMérieux of the future need, and how are you preparing to lead in this era of AI and data transformation?
LT: One of our priorities is growth and expansion of molecular diagnostics through high-plex syndromic panels, connecting with Microbiology and Immunology solutions (Integrated solutions). These are our two scientific focus areas: 1) expand the syndromic diagnostics panel, and 2) integrate with IT solutions to support decisions not only inside hospitals or labs but within countries, regions, and worldwide. We promote solutions through microbiology and syndromic data integration tools, connected to our users, allowing them to see trends not only in Brazil but in all countries where we have implemented solutions. In terms of healthcare efficiency in Brazil, reimbursement price lists are established for hospitals and labs, but these prices are usually disconnected from market dynamics (inflation, increased international logistics costs, etc.), creating financial challenges for the healthcare sector. This is a solid opportunity to collaborate. Big players seek greater efficiency while requiring better technology for improved diagnostics, visibility, and patient security. My mission is to integrate these visions to deliver better value propositions, keeping them aware that short-term investments may be needed but that, in the mid- to long term, they reduce operational expenses and improve efficiency.
EF: Can you share an example of how you're helping customers think about efficiency?
LT: Let me give you a simple example about efficiency. Square-meter (area) prices in hospitals are highly valuable, and in general, the space needs to be used to generate cash (not as a cost center) to support ROI. As soon as we see increasing diagnostic demand, many private and public hospitals with on-site labs for emergencies also need to adjust their infrastructure to accommodate the increased demand (more instruments, staff, consumables, etc.). This means in the future, they need to expand their lab square meters, requiring them to pay more to maintain the same diagnostics in their hospital (reducing the cash generation area to build a cost center). But we can elaborate on a study that shows they can increase productivity (with CAGR % over the years) while keeping the same space, demonstrating savings (also on people’s costs). A solid partner brings innovation, technology, and connectivity as key factors to implement efficiency in a dynamic business. This kind of concept and discussion is how I believe we can support efficiency while showing we have the competencies and solutions customers need for future expansion.
EF: What are your thoughts on the future of diagnostics in Brazil?
LT: The future of diagnostics is a daily topic in leadership discussions and part of the strategic conversations that leaders may have. A critical part of our future diagnostics relates to people’s access. A small part of Brazil's population has access to advanced diagnostics of high complexity and a willingness to pay out of pocket for them. In terms of public health, we need to promote clinical and economic evidence to advance this agenda while bringing payers and decision makers as true partners in this journey — because only through that shared dialogue can we collectively elevate diagnostics from a budget line to a genuine public health priority, expanding access to the entire population. We're not talking about business increasing; we're talking about future incorporations, access to populations, and making Brazil and the world more accessible to diagnostics, saving lives, and improving public health.
Mapping the private and public healthcare system, the massive private users come from companies' benefits - companies in Brazil pay for health insurance as employees’ benefits. If we see employment rates in Brazil increasing, the private sector does well. If employment rates decrease, the private sector faces challenges, and some of the population needs to move from the private to the public sector (SUS). We don't need to explain that the public sector is struggling right now. But this is the relevant point, and a simple example to reinforce the idea that public health is connected and a responsibility for all of us.
