Melissa Stevens
Senior Brand Manager
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
Deep Understanding of the Patient Journey
As the Senior Brand Manager on the Austedo business, Melissa Stevens manages all consumer marketing for a multi-indication drug with two distinct patient populations—those suffering from tardive dyskinesia (TD) and chorea associated with Huntington’s disease. These conditions are often considered “nested,” and the underlying conditions—schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bi-polar disorder for TD and Huntington’s Disease for HD chorea—are often prioritized over treating the movements, which introduces a unique challenge when it comes to consumer marketing. How do you break through when these patients have so many other obstacles they must overcome and other priorities they must address?
A deep understanding of the patient journey and their needs at each phase is what has allowed Melissa to put the patient at the center of everything she does. In fact, over the past year and a half, she has helped to establish a renewed focus on ensuring patients have the right resources throughout their journey. She also elevated the voice of the patient in partnership with key advocacy organizations, including the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Mental Health America.
Additionally, she led the launch of the TD consumer campaign across website, email, paid and social media, in-office, and print materials, all the while advocating for data-driven insights to better inform reporting and optimizations in everything the brand does. That includes improving the CRM program to ensure patients are receiving the right message at the right time for both disease education and branded content. She also developed video content to drive diagnosis and treatment. Melissa even had to lead efforts for new team member onboarding for cross-functional groups as the Teva organization moved from Kansas City to Parsippany.
In Melissa’s tenure at Teva she has worn many hats, from starting on the Market Insights team, to taking over responsibilities in the multichannel marketing function, and now leading the consumer marketing efforts for Austedo. With each step she has gained a deeper understanding of both patient needs and how to balance that with what will truly drive the business—establishing her as an up and comer in the pharma space.
