Sebastián Millar Santelices
Senior Strategic Advisor – Advanced Therapies & Precision Medicine
Senior health policy, regulatory, and market access professional with more than ten years of experience operating at the intersection of health regulation, public healthcare coverage, innovative therapies, rare diseases, oncology, and access to high-cost medicines. Recognized for transforming complex regulatory, financing, and policy challenges into practical strategies that strengthen healthcare systems and expand sustainable and equitable patient access to advanced therapies and precision medicine across Latin America and Europe.
Thera Contribution
As Senior Strategic Advisor at Thera Health Policy & Access, Sebastián leads the firm’s Advanced Therapies & Precision Medicine pillar, helping clients navigate the regulatory, reimbursement, financing, and public-policy challenges that shape the adoption of highly innovative health technologies across Latin America.
He plays a critical role in Thera’s Diagnosis → Design → Deliver phases, ensuring that access and policy strategies are grounded in a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks, health technology assessment, public healthcare coverage, sustainable reimbursement models, and institutional readiness.
His expertise allows Thera to bridge the worlds of scientific innovation, health policy, regulation, reimbursement, and patient access, helping organizations translate breakthrough therapies into practical and implementable strategies that improve health outcomes and strengthen healthcare systems.
Executive Profile
Sebastián is a Chilean lawyer specialized in health regulation, market access, public healthcare coverage, and legal frameworks for innovative and high-cost therapies. With ten years of experience at the Chilean Ministry of Health, he has worked extensively on policies and regulatory frameworks related to high-cost medicines, rare diseases, oncology, bioethics, treatment access, and public healthcare financing.
Throughout his public-sector career, he participated in the design, implementation, and evaluation of coverage frameworks and regulatory models supporting patient access to innovative therapies, including initiatives related to GES, the Ricarte Soto Law, high-cost oncology drug programs, ministerial coverage mechanisms, and other public health programs. He also became a leading technical reference in litigation involving high-cost medicines and complex healthcare disputes.
A defining feature of his profile is his ability to connect legal analysis, regulatory design, reimbursement considerations, patient needs, and political feasibility. His experience provides a practical understanding of how access decisions are made when scientific evidence, budget constraints, legal pressures, and public expectations converge.
Based in Germany, Sebastián works between Europe and Latin America, supporting organizations that need to navigate complex regulatory and coverage environments, anticipate legal and policy risks, identify unmet needs, and develop sustainable pathways for patient access.
He operates effectively across multiple stakeholder environments, including:
- Governments and regulatory authorities
- Healthcare payers and coverage decision-makers
- Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies
- Patient organizations and civil society groups
- Academic and research institutions
- Health technology assessment and policy stakeholders
This multidisciplinary perspective enables him to bridge the worlds of regulation, reimbursement, public policy, and healthcare innovation, helping organizations navigate increasingly complex health ecosystems while advancing equitable access to transformative therapies.
Areas of Strategic Impact
Advanced Therapies & Precision Medicine
Supports organizations in understanding the regulatory, reimbursement, financing, and institutional challenges associated with advanced therapies and precision medicine, helping translate scientific innovation into feasible access and policy strategies.
Health Regulation & Regulatory Strategy
Advises governments, healthcare stakeholders, and industry organizations on regulatory frameworks, compliance environments, and policy developments affecting innovative health technologies.
Market Access, Pricing & Reimbursement
Provides strategic guidance on access, pricing, coverage, and financing pathways for innovative therapies, helping organizations navigate complex reimbursement environments and coverage decision-making processes.
Rare Diseases & Oncology Policy
Brings extensive expertise in public policies, access frameworks, and reimbursement mechanisms affecting therapies for rare diseases and oncology, with particular focus on high-cost innovations.
Health Technology Assessment & Coverage Frameworks
Supports organizations in understanding how evidence, budget impact, and institutional priorities influence health technology assessment, coverage decisions, and healthcare financing mechanisms.
Patient Access & Multi-Stakeholder Engagement
Facilitates collaboration among public institutions, industry stakeholders, patient organizations, and civil society to identify unmet needs and develop practical solutions that improve access to innovative therapies.
Legal Risk, Litigation & Health Policy Implementation
Provides strategic insight on legal and policy risks associated with reimbursement decisions, healthcare litigation, and the implementation of complex coverage frameworks.
Professional Background
Based in Germany, he supports organizations dealing with one of healthcare’s most complex challenges: ensuring that innovative and high-cost therapies effectively reach patients within highly regulated and resource-constrained health systems.
His work focuses on access, pricing, reimbursement, financing strategies, policy analysis, and regulatory environments, particularly in oncology, rare diseases, medical devices, advanced therapies, and precision medicine. Working between Europe and Latin America, he helps organizations understand complex coverage frameworks, identify system gaps, anticipate policy risks, and develop strategies that can be successfully implemented in real-world settings.
Prior to relocating to Germany, Sebastián spent ten years at the Chilean Ministry of Health, where he served as a lawyer and health regulation expert. His responsibilities included designing and drafting health regulations, developing compliance and oversight frameworks, supporting access models for medicines and high-cost treatments, and contributing to public healthcare coverage policies related to innovative therapies and health technologies.
At the Ministry of Health, he played an active role in policies and programs linked to GES, the Ricarte Soto Law, high-cost oncology drug initiatives, ministerial coverage programs, and treatment access mechanisms. He also provided legal and regulatory advice on bioethical issues related to clinical research and healthcare delivery and became a recognized technical reference on high-cost drug litigation and healthcare conflict resolution.
Earlier in his career, Sebastián worked as a lawyer at the Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS), advising on public employment law, compliance, employee rights, ethics, and institutional governance matters.
He also served as a Legislative Advisor at Centro Democracia y Comunidad, supporting legislative work related to health, economic, and environmental policy before the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the National Congress of Chile.
Academic & Professional Credentials
- Diploma in Right to Health and Healthcare Management
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Master’s Degree in Regulatory Law
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - Diploma in Administrative Sanctioning Law
Universidad de Valladolid, Spain - Law Degree (Licenciatura en Derecho)
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción
