Therese A. Heimbold
Senior Marketing Director
Galen US Incorporated
The Specialty Launch Specialist
Since joining Galen US, Therese Heimbold has launched two successful brands in the last four years, no small feat for anyone, but particularly impressive given the financial and staff resources available for a small growing pharma company.
Synera is a prescription pain patch that helps prevent pain in patients requiring needle-sticks. It has traditionally been used in the pediatric segment, but Therese led efforts at Galen to launch into the women’s health market to support women undergoing fertility treatments who receive multiple needlesticks throughout their treatments.
As part of the launch strategy, Therese and her team began with educating HCPs/RNs about how their patients were suffering in silence with needlestick pain due to daily monitoring and other procedures. Most IVF centers were unaware this was even a problem. Therese guided the creation of tactics designed to build awareness of the need for Synera.
“We really help these patients, which, for me, is the best part of doing this initiative and campaign,” Therese explains. “With their end goal of having a baby, many times the physical pain of the needle stick is overlooked because these women will do, will suffer almost anything, to get pregnant.”
Most recently, Galen acquired the commercial rights for Adasuve, the first and only FDA-approved inhaled therapy for the acute treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder in adults. Therese and her team were charged with the relaunch of Adasuve.
The first critical part of the relaunch strategy was developing creative and messaging that weaves the patient journey into the brand story. Additionally, the target audience had to be narrowed to a small segment of psychiatry within emergency settings, specifically in Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES).
Adasuve was relaunched in late 2017, and the PES segment is beginning to embrace this novel product. All indications are that Adasuve is on its way to becoming the ideal treatment for patients and is assisting psychiatrists to meet the challenging aspects of addressing agitation in the emergency setting.
