Year: 2015-16

Company: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Liaison(s): Erik Rubin

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is a global
biopharmaceutical organization that aims to discover,
develop, and deliver innovative products to serve
patient needs. Since 1858, BMS has remained focused
on R&D innovation. BMS currently works with a
variety of drug platforms in many different disease
categories at sites located around the world.
The KGI team is working with the Pharmaceutical
Development department at BMS in New Brunswick,
New Jersey for this TMP. This project is unique in that
it is split into two independent projects. This improves
alignment with BMS’s need for rapid solutions, and
also provides the students with a more varied learning
experience.
The first semester project focused on researching
best practices to optimize a portfolio of R&D
activities. The Pharmaceutical Development
department is interested in identifying novel
strategies for understanding and mitigating risks
inherently embedded in their portfolio. In order to
produce recommendations to accomplish this objective,
the KGI team looked for insights from a diverse range
of industries. The team conducted literature searches
and interviewed leaders from industries that, similar
to the pharmaceutical industry, require a high initial
investment for product development. The team then
synthesized a set of best practices for BMS to consider
implementing into its R&D portfolio optimization.
The second semester project was guided by the
assumption that BMS lab scientists could benefit
from improved meeting practices. In its first step
towards reducing the time dedicated to meetings,
the team reviewed an extensive data set from a
previous BMS-commissioned study on its scientists’
meetings, and used this information as the launching
point for a comprehensive literature review. BMS
employee interviews provided further insight into
developing strategies that were both feasible and
relevant to the company. Condensing these various
modes of information allowed the KGI team to
provide recommendations on how to enhance meeting
effectiveness.