Roivant Social Ventures, a nonprofit philanthropic social impact organization launched by Roivant Sciences, today announced a major collaboration with Sanford Burnham Prebys, San Diego’s prestigious medical discovery institute. The groundbreaking initiative is designed to eliminate barriers to opportunity in the biopharma industry and expand inclusive access to healthcare. The initiative directly addresses three historic challenges:

1. The lack of diversity in biopharma leadership, clinical trial principal investigators and clinical trial patients;
2. The mismatch between advanced degree programs and the drug development and leadership skills needed to succeed in the biopharma industry; and
3. The large number of “shelved drugs” that are deprioritized during portfolio optimization efforts but which hold promising therapeutic value for underserved patient populations and unmet medical needs.

Unveiled today, the first-of-its-kind, real-world training program aims to accelerate therapeutic innovation by prioritizing unmet medical needs, engaging underserved populations, and training students from diverse backgrounds. The program provides students with extensive hands-on experience in all aspects of the drug development process, preparing them to make an immediate impact as senior leaders in the biopharma industry.

“To meet mounting healthcare challenges and stark healthcare disparities, we need to shift the current paradigm and train a new type of biopharma leader,” said C. Randal Mills, PhD, CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys. “We are proud to stand up this bold and innovative program with our partners at Roivant Social Ventures to tackle these problems head-on and with a relentless pursuit of better outcomes for patients in need.”

Sanford Burnham Prebys will provide students with hands-on, end-to-end drug development experience through its medical research labs, high-throughput drug discovery center and drug development incubator. Roivant Social Ventures will provide expertise on identifying promising drug candidates and launching and incubating successful biopharma companies, and it will also assist in securing rights to “shelved drugs” that have the potential to improve the lives of underserved patient populations. As part of their training, the diverse degree candidates will participate in pre-clinical work and clinical trials to advance these drug candidates and directly contribute toward addressing unmet patient needs.

“I know firsthand the importance that diverse, well-trained leaders can have in improving patient outcomes, addressing health inequality, and solving pressing medical need,” said Lindsay Androski, Founder and CEO of Roivant Social Ventures. "People are naturally driven to make a difference in areas that have impacted them personally - in diseases affecting their friends or loved ones. By continuing to improve diversity in the next generation of leaders, we will help make ‘unmet need’ and ‘underserved patient populations’ a thing of the past."

Students will graduate from this program as experienced leaders with hands-on experience across the drug development continuum, thus enabling them to bring important medical innovations to patients earlier in their careers and to make a greater impact in patients’ lives.

About Sanford Burnham Prebys

Sanford Burnham Prebys conducts world-class collaborative research dedicated to finding cures for human disease, improving quality of life, and training the next generation of scientists. Sanford Burnham Prebys employs more than 500 scientists and staff and educates over 350 PhD candidates, post-doctoral fellows and interns. Sanford Burnham Prebys, an independent nonprofit research organization, is located in San Diego, California, one of the country’s largest biotech hubs.

About Roivant Social Ventures

Roivant Social Ventures (RSV) is a not-for-profit social impact organization founded by Roivant Sciences which is focused on improving healthcare access and outcomes for underserved groups. RSV uses advances in science and technology as vehicles to challenge and advance the norms of biopharma and healthcare delivery. RSV pursues two strategies: (i) investing in and incubating early-stage companies working to address unmet needs in medicine; and (ii) increasing the number of diverse leaders in the biopharma industry through partnerships, education and training programs.