Turning great science into impactful medicine: Lessons from Corey Goodman, Pioneer in Science and Venture Capital

Lab to Startup

Corey Goodman, Ph.D., is the managing partner of venBio, a venture capital firm he cofounded in 2011. venBio already has 7 FDA approved drugs on the market, saving and improving lives.

Corey spent 25 years as Professor of Biology at Stanford University and Evan Rauch Chair of Neurobiology at U.C. Berkeley, where he was a HHMI Investigator, Head of the Neurobiology Division, and co-founder and Director of the Wills Neuroscience Institute.

Corey co-founded seven biotechnology companies, and led one of them (Renovis) as President and CEO from a private to public company until its acquisition by Evotec. Two of the companies he co-founded have been acquired and three have done IPOs to date. He then moved to Pfizer, where he was President of the Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and a member of the executive leadership team.

We talk about transformation of UC Berkeley as a startup powerhouse; his entrepreneurial journey starting with the founding of Exelixis while being a faculty at UC Berkeley; role played by mentors and co-founders; lessons learned from founding startups that founders today could benefit from; changing careers at various stages of his life as he turned 50 and 60 (he recently turned 73); lessons from big pharma; experiences and lessons from partnerships and acquisitions by big pharma; and his experiences investing.

Show Notes:

• Corey Goodman, Ph.D.

• Corey Goodman’s autobiography: https://www.sfn.org/-/media/SfN/Documents/NEW-SfN/About/History-of-Neuroscience/20220914_HON_volume12_goodman.pdf

• Turn around story of UC Berkeley entrepreneurship: remarkable 10 years

• People and leadership matter

• Carol Christ

• Exelixis: Corey’s first startup, co-founded with Gerry Rubin. George Scangos joined the company as CEO in 1996;

• Learning from genetic modeling organisms

• Find a big brother/sister who can help you: Role played by Stelios Papadopoulos and Ed Penhoet

• Donald Kennedy: Corey’s mentor

• Taking risks at various stages of life: Turning 50, 60, and now 73

• Life as an executive at Pfizer and lessons learned in that space

• Big pharma companies are unbelievably inefficient in early stage drug discovery

• James Allison: Immune checkpoint inhibitors

• Importance of academia and startup ecosystem in drug discovery

• Lessons from big pharma acquiring biotechs: What, when, how and what not to do

• Lessons learned from biotech partnering with big pharma: Don’t partner on everything- keep some to yourself

• Operator VCs: Investors/board members who went through building companies are more valuable than those who come from consulting backgrounds

• Building teams

• Transition to Pfizer and out: “Come change the world”

• Launching VenBio: Everybody’s voice matters

• Investment thesis