Alexis Rich Saladino
Senior Director, Consumer & Patient Marketing
Oyster Point Pharma
A Career of Launch Excellence
Alexis Rich Saladino has had a nose for product launches her entire 20+ year career.
She first launched Splenda No Calorie Sweetener with J&J in the early digital days. Although it was more of a consumer product launch, she was involved in patient marketing and digital efforts. Her work significantly contributed to the award-winning market introduction, which rocketed Splenda to #1 market share.
After graduating from the Fordham Gabelli School of Business, she joined Forest Laboratories (now part of AbbVie) to support the launch of Namenda, an FDA-approved drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease. She managed an annual $100M budget that supported aggressive plans to grow sales from $300M to $800M over three years.
Then, during an eight-year tenure at Novartis, she applied her skills to defending Femara and Gleevec from generic competition. She was also responsible for bringing Afinitor, for the treatment of renal angiomyolipoma associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, to market. She developed novel approaches in a fragmented market and established a platform to drive future success for Novartis’ rare diseases. All of this work resulted in 96% and 54% volume growth in year two and three, respectively.
Next with Sanofi, she continued to focus on launches over her three years there, leading the HCP and patient digital marketing launches for the blockbuster Dupixent across multiple indications.
But most recently, she joined Oyster Point Pharma at the end of 2020 to lead the patient marketing of Tyrvaya nasal spray for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. As a team of one, Alexis knew she couldn’t fall victim to “shiny-object syndrome,” so she focused on the fundamentals like paid search, targeting the most qualified audience, and a strong digital presence.
“We wanted to show up differently, and make a clear and clean statement,” Alexis says. “Turns out that the fact that it is a nasal spray drew patients in to learn more and the science resonated, and it became a major differentiator that we continue to focus on. It’s a centerpiece of our work.”
