About QANTARIS
QANTARIS is the next chapter for Paulo Paiva dos Santos. 30+ years of pharma operating experience, distilled into a platform and advisory practice for the next generation of health product founders.
Founder
QANTARIS is led by Paulo Paiva dos Santos, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur who founded Generis in 2002 and grew it into Portugal’s largest pharmaceutical company.
With over 30 years in life sciences, Paulo combines executive education from Harvard Business School and Oxford University with hands-on operating experience scaling industrial pharma. Under his leadership, Generis grew from start-up to industrial powerhouse before joining the Aurobindo group in 2017.
Now based between Lisbon and Dubai, where he serves as President of the Portuguese Business Council, established by Dubai Chambers, Paulo brings that operational depth to QANTARIS, advising founders and pharma groups building the next generation of health products.
Track record
Generis defined the modern Portuguese pharmaceutical market, and its story set the operating benchmark behind every QANTARIS engagement.
Paulo's early pharmaceutical venture drew international attention, earning a Financial Times feature that introduced Portuguese entrepreneurial ambition to a global readership.
Paulo Paiva dos Santos founds Generis Farmacêutica to bring high-quality generic medicines to the Portuguese market at the moment European policy was opening the category.
Generis acquires its first manufacturing facility in Amadora. Over the following years the plant scales to produce more than 1.2 billion tablets per year.
Generis becomes the first Portuguese pharma lab to run television advertising educating the public about generics, a category-defining campaign that helped legitimise generic medicines for Portuguese consumers.
Magnum Capital, led by João Talone, partners with Generis in a €200M transaction. Paulo retains a 20.95% stake and remains company president, continuing to steer the business.
Aurobindo Pharma of India acquires Generis for €135M. At the time of exit, Generis is Portugal's #1 generic pharma brand: 271 products, 271 marketed SKUs, ~€65M revenue.
In the press
A moment that signalled Paulo’s entry onto the international pharma stage, and a reminder that Portuguese operators have long been quietly reshaping the industry.
Archive · March 1994
The 1994 Financial Times feature introduced Paulo’s vision to an international audience years before Generis would go on to define the Portuguese pharmaceutical market.
— Financial Times, Wednesday 2 March 1994
Today
Paulo serves as President of the Portuguese Business Council, established by Dubai Chambers, and continues to lead operating and investment work at Inventis, combining European regulatory depth with GCC and MENA market access.