By Devon McPhee
More than 90 percent of drug candidates never move forward, according to the National Institutes of Health — a roadblock that saddens Alexander Yang, MD’01, MBA’01.
“It’s heartbreaking how many therapies that clearly work don’t make it to market, not because of the science but because of how their value is communicated to investors,” said Yang, founder and CEO of Xelay Acumen, a Bay Area strategy and management consulting firm focused on biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare providers.
The barrier also motivates him. Yang’s firm, which develops clear medical communication programs for promising therapies in development, boasts numerous successes in moving promising new treatments further down the development pipeline.
“We challenge ourselves to uncover and develop the stories that will aid stakeholders — government, insurance, physicians, investors and patients — in understanding the potential role of a therapy and to secure needed funding to continue clinical trials,” Yang said.
The entrepreneur’s distinct path almost never came to fruition. While enrolled in the University of Chicago’s joint MD/MBA program, Yang envisioned a career as a pediatrician and, later, an emergency department physician.
But during residency applications, he also explored consulting opportunities and received multiple job offers. One firm, McKinsey & Company, convinced him to defer residency and join their West Coast office, where biotech was burgeoning.
“I thought, ‘I’m young and single — why not?’” Yang said. “It really opened my eyes to how I could leverage both of my degrees and how I could make a difference in patients’ lives on a broad scale by helping to get groundbreaking therapies into the market for patients.”
Yang spent a decade at various biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Nektar Therapeutics and Affymax, before striking out on his own. Today, Xelay Acumen employs about 20 across the United States and Asia. Yang has also launched an investment fund and a philanthropy foundation.
“Entrepreneurship has given me the ability to work on exciting therapies that satisfy a passion for scientific inquiry and, at the same time, help others in a meaningful and impactful way,” he said.
Yang credits his UChicago education for much of his success, emphasizing an approach known as “the pursuit of why” to connect seemingly disparate concepts.
“There’s this ‘network externality’ effect, where you have different pieces of information, and if you understand the ‘why’ behind each of them, you begin to see how they are connected and can make discoveries that others overlook,” Yang said.
As a gesture of gratitude, Yang established the Alex Yang MD’01, MBA’01 and Xelay Foundation Scholarship Fund in 2018 to support students at the Pritzker School of Medicine, and he sponsored the creation of a study space at the medical school.
Yang recently funded a gift for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Hong Kong campus, and he was appointed a member of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine Council in July.
“I’m honored to give back to the institution that has played a pivotal role in my life,” Yang said.
