Student Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Club Crosses Disciplines and Creates Networks

Top biotechnology executives from organizations including Bristol-Myers Squibb, 454 Life Sciences, and Purdue Pharma gathered over the course of four evenings in January for the 2007 Business of Biotechnology Program. Sponsored by the Yale Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Society (YBPS), the program is one of the many ways in which the club reaches across disciplinary boundaries. 

YBPS is a university-based organization founded in 1997 by SOM students and Yale graduate students to bring science together with business, and professionals together with students and faculty, through seminars, conferences, and case and business-plan competitions.

“You’ve got such a broad range of people involved [in YBPS]. From law to business to the sciences,” says Alex Beale ’07. “There really is no other parallel healthcare-related organization at Yale or SOM in which you can gain this kind of scope.”

Organized by Constance McKee '86, the Business of Biotechnology Program introduced participants to the business of starting a biotechnology company. Guest speakers discussed clinical development, business models, how portfolio choice affects development and financing strategy, and how venture capitalists and industry partners make investment decisions.

The president of YBPS, Richard Reznick, a graduate student in the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, says that one of the primary aims of the society is to host events similar to the Business of Biotechnology Program that encourage people to network with one another. “One of the major benefits of getting involved in this club is that you have the opportunity to meet top executives and find out whether the healthcare industry is right for you before actually applying for internships or jobs.”

Paul Sandoval ’07, a chemist about to graduate from SOM, has personal insight into both the scientist’s and the MBA’s points of view. He wrote the case for last fall’s YBPS Pharmaceutical Case Competition, teams for which included students from a number of Yale’s graduate and professional schools. “Many students didn’t find working together a smooth process,” says Sandoval. “That’s one of the reasons we hold the case competition, to get scientists and business people working together and understanding each other, so they can see what it’s going to be like in the real world and learn to bridge that gap.”