COURSE NUMBER:MBA295J.1

 

This course is cross-listed with the College of Engineering

 

COURSE TITLE:  Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology

 

UNITS OF CREDIT:  2

 

INSTRUCTORS:  Dr. Larry Lasky

 

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: lasky@haas.berkeley.edu

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION:  http://bspace.berkeley.edu

 

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME:  Wednesday, 2:00-4:00 PM

 

PREREQS:  MBA Core curriculum or permission of an instructor

 

CLASS FORMAT:  Introductory lectures, industry guest expert lecturers, case studies, and in-class analysis of strategies and tactics relevant to the life science industry.  As a final project, groups or individuals will prepare a business plan for a new life science-based venture in the biotech, biomedical device or health services sector.

 

REQUIRED READINGS:  No textbook, but readings from biotech and device-related books, journals and websites will be assigned.

 

BASIS FOR GRADE:                        

Grades will be based on class participation (~ 20%), qualitative and quantitative work

done between classes (~ 30%) and the final project, a business plan for a new life science-based company (~ 50%).  Students in this course are from the MBA program in its various forms, Engineering, Public Health, and often UCSF and Molecular and Cell Biology.  Final project teams are multidisciplinary and rely heavily on the breadth of expertise of the team members.  The instructor will help teams find projects.

 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

The Haas Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology class will provide students an introduction to the complexities and unique problems of starting a life sciences company. It is designed for both entrepreneurs and students who may someday work in a biotechnology or medical device startup.  Students will be exposed to the topics most critical for successfully founding, financing and operating a life science company, and will be expected to perform many of the same tasks that founders would normally undertake. Discussions with life-science entrepreneurs, case studies of recent companies and hands-on work developing entrepreneurial endeavors will all be utilized.

 

The first classes will provide an overview of the industry based on current trends and those of the past 20 years as well as on how to recognize fundable opportunities.  The middle section of the course will focus on functional and operational issues facing small life science companies including obtaining financing, working with venture capitalists, bringing ideas to the clinic, intellectual property, and business development and strategic partnering.  The final portion of the course will be oriented to the preparation and presentation of actual business plans.  Well in advance of the project’s final due date, teams will be asked to provide a written executive summary and one or more oral presentations.  These exercises will help teams understand the strengths and weaknesses of their new venture, and help them to prepare a more successful plan.

 

This class is appropriate for students who would like to start their own enterprise, and just as importantly, those who believe that they may someday work in a small life science-based company.  In both cases, you will learn what drives the start up and on-going operations of these fascinating and exciting enterprises.

 

Larry Lasky is currently a partner at USVP, a venture capital partnership. He has founded several companies, including Cellective (acquired by Medimmune), Proteolix (acquired by Onyx Pharmaceuticals), Oncomed, Tetralogic and Intellikine, and he currently sits on the board of Oncomed. Before becoming a venture capitalist, he spent 20 years as a scientist at Genentech working in various fields including vaccines, inflammation, cellular signaling and anti-tumor monoclonal antibody production and he has published over 135 papers and has 38 issued and pending patents. Two of his projects, vaccines for herpes simplex virus and HIV, have gone into phase 3 clinical trials. During his time at Genentech, he was a standing member of the research review committee, which had oversight over all of research, and he retired as the Genentech Fellow, the highest scientific position at the company. Before joining Genentech, he was a founding scientist of the Genetics Institute, one of the earliest biotechnology companies. He received his B.A. and PhD in molecular biology from UCLA and did his postdoctoral studies at CalTech.