LBS team wins Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition

Five London Business School (LBS) MBA2027 students took home the top prize at the 25th annual Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition recently. Mariane Melo, Linda Gitobu, Sofia Darveniza, Rita Antunes Figueiredo Carvalho, and Lavanya Saberwal fought off competition from MIT Sloan, Wharton, Kellogg, Michigan Ross, Chicago Booth, Berkeley Haas, and the University of St Gallen to become the first non-American business school to win one of the oldest and most prestigious case competitions in the world.

The competition, which is held at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, sees teams of students from leading business schools work on a complex healthcare problem and present their analysis and recommendations to a team of judges from top healthcare firms.

In total, 81 teams applied to the 2026 competition, which was sponsored by Moderna and Medtronic. In the first round, 25 teams competed, analysing the commercial launch of Journavx, a new pain medication from Vertex. By identifying the key drivers of adoption and proposing actionable strategies to accelerate uptake, LBS progressed to the final round to do battle with 11 other teams from across three countries.

In the Final Round, ‘LBS Girls’ addressed a forward-looking strategic question: whether Intuitive Surgical should expand its da Vinci robotic surgical platform into orthopaedics, and if so, how. They assessed market attractiveness, competitive dynamics, platform economics, and entry barriers — ultimately recommending a selective, spine-first entry strategy leveraging Intuitive's core strengths.

The judges, which included representatives from Astellas, Moderna, Medtronic, Orexo US, Inc, RINVOQ Dermatology and Salus Vitae Group, awarded LBS the top prize as they felt the team delivered a clear, compelling recommendation underpinned by strong storytelling. They also appreciated the analytical framework the team developed, which considered clinical need and adoption dynamics, market feasibility, the competitive landscape, and entry barriers.

"Winning this competition as the first European school in its 25-year history means the world to all of us. We came to Chicago as underdogs, and we left having firmly stamped LBS’s mark on the competition. Beyond the result, what made this experience exceptional was the intellectual challenge of building real strategy for some of the most complex problems in pharma and medtech — and the connections we made along the way, whether with the judges from Astellas, Moderna, and Medtronic, or with the brilliant teams from MIT, Wharton, and beyond. We hope this win is the first of many for every future LBS team that dares to compete."

Mariane Melo, on behalf of the LBS Girls (Mariane Melo, Linda Gitobu, Sofia Darveniza, Rita Antunes Figueiredo Carvalho, and Lavanya Saberwal)