Vicki L. Sato
Professor of Management Practice
Vicki L. Sato, Ph.D, is Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, and also Professor of the Practice in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard University. She also teaches in HBS Executive Education programs. She is a business advisor to Atlas Venture and other enterprises in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Dr. Sato retired in 2005 from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she served as President since 2000, with responsibility for research and development, business and corporate development, commercial operations, legal, and finance. Prior to becoming President, she was Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President of Research and Development, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. Under her leadership, Vertex created a diversified pipeline of drugs, including two HIV protease inhibitors approved and marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, an oral protease inhibitor ( VX 950) for the treatment of hepatitis C, now in late clinical development, two anti-inflammatory drug candidates in clinical development, a novel molecule for the treatment of cystic fibrosis now in Phase I clinical testing, and two kinase inhibitors being for the treatment of cancers. In addition, a new molecule for the management of pain has been recently licensed to GlaxoSmithKline.
Before joining Vertex, Dr. Sato was Vice President of Research at Biogen, Inc, where she led research programs in the areas of inflammation, thrombosis, and HIV disease, and participated in the executive management of the company. Several molecules from those programs have now reached the marketplace. She also served as a member of the Biogen Scientific Board.
Currently, Dr. Sato is a member of the Board of Directors of publicly held companies Bristol Myers Squibb Company, PerkinElmer Corporation, Galapagos NV and the venture-phase companies Nimbus Discovery and Neurophage. She is also a founding member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Broad Institute, and a board member of Prize4Life, a nonprofit organization focused on finding cures for ALS, founded by HBS alumnus Avichai Kremer.
Dr. Sato received her AB from Radcliffe College, and her AM and PHD degrees from Harvard University. Following postdoctoral work at both the University of California Berkeley and Stanford Medical Center, Dr. Sato was appointed to the faculty of Harvard University, where she was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Biology.
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Case
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2012
BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India
Vicki Sato, Sen Chai, Rich Ballenger, Christine Chi, Alexander Down and Ross Leimberg
Bristol Myers Squibb, multi-national pharmaceutical company, is seeking to globalize its R&D strategy while managing costs. They have formed a joint venture with an Indian company which has worked well, but now face a strategic decision on how and whether to continue.
Keywords: Pharmaceuticals;
Global innovation;
Research and Development;
Biomedical Research;
Joint Ventures;
India;
United States;
Citation: Sato, Vicki, Sen Chai, Rich Ballenger, Christine Chi, Alexander Down, and Ross Leimberg. "BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India." Harvard Business School Case 613-072, December 2012.
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Teaching Plan
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2012
The Langer Lab: Commercializing Science (TP)
Vicki L. Sato and Annelena Lobb
The Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was a unique operation. Its head, Robert Langer, had always focused on selecting ideas to research that would have the greatest positive impact for humanity, and he encouraged an unusual multidisciplinary approach at the lab, fostering collaboration between scientists from many diverse backgrounds. The approach led to exciting discoveries and innovations at the Langer Lab. Besides his intelligence, Langer's personality—expansive, magnanimous, and intensely curious—enticed many potential applicants. The lab also had a very strong working relationship with MIT's Technology Licensing Office, which wrote patents for all of the innovations created at the university. What lessons can be drawn from the Langer Lab about the management of research groups? How did the Langer Lab sustain innovation? Could the Langer Lab's processes successfully be imitated elsewhere?
Keywords: computers;
industry evolution;
entrepreneurship;
Intellectual capital;
patents;
R＆D;
Technology Transfer;
Patents;
Research and Development;
Massachusetts;
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Case
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2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
China Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research: Building a Sustainable, Globally Integrated Research Enterprise
Vicki Sato, Christoph Jaeker and Pooja Mehta Solanki
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Research;
Integration;
Health Industry;
Pharmaceutical Industry;
China;
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Case
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2011
(Revised from original 2011 version)
PerkinElmer Developing Products in China for China
Vicki Sato, Christoph Jaeker and Kareem Reda
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies;
Product Development;
China;
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Case
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2008
Adnexus Therapeutics, Inc.: Considering the Exit
Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon
Dr. John Mendlein, CEO of Adnexus Therapeutics Inc. (Adnexus), a private biotechnology company, must decide whether to pursue acquisition talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) after a successful six-month collaboration or continue with Adnexus' planned IPO.
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Entrepreneurship;
Initial Public Offering;
Corporate Strategy;
Biotechnology Industry;
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Case
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2008
(Revised from original 2008 version)
The Broad Institute: Applying the Power of Genomics to Medicine
Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon
In June 2003, Harvard University and MIT announced an unprecedented partnership to create a biomedical institute, The Broad Institute. The culture of the Broad centered on science, and those involved considered it to be at the edge of the scientific frontier. In just four years the Broad had made many important scientific contributions to the biomedical field. These included understanding genetic alterations in cancer; building an RNAi Consortium to better understand the role of every gene in the human body; creating an integrated database that mapped the connections among drugs, genes, and diseases; and cataloging inherited genetic variations of Type 2 Diabetes. Opportunities for additional important scientific advances beckoned but would require both funding and physical space. The Broad Institute's leaders, including Altshuler, Director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics, and Golub, Director of the Cancer Program, needed to decide how big was too big. How many projects could the Broad productively support? What happened when the Broad outgrew its physical space? Altshuler and Golub knew that the Broad had made tremendous strides in the past year. It had minimized barriers and attracted many young scientists who viewed the Broad as an exciting place to do research. That success made the question of how to balance the priorities of growth and the preservation of the culture that had made everything possible all the more important.
Keywords: Education;
Health Care and Treatment;
Innovation Leadership;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Organizational Culture;
Partners and Partnerships;
Research and Development;
Genetics;
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