Alana Darden-Powell
Vice President Marketing
Urovant Sciences, Inc.
Transforming Both Marketing and Communications
Alana Darden-Powell’s dream role in pharma is to serve as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer (CMCO) where she could integrate corporate communications into brand marketing. If anyone could thrive in this role it would be Alana who has a history of success in both.
One of Alana’s biggest marketing successes was building physician injection training tools and platforms at Allergan for therapeutic uses of BOTOX. This included a regional cadaver program where a neurologist, physiatrist, and anatomist would lead physicians through a lab explaining the functionality of muscles, cause of the condition, neurologic impact, etc. Then physicians in attendance would work in small groups to palpate the musculature and locate injection points, inject different colored dyes into the cadaver before it was dissected to examine their accuracy, and discuss as a group what they could do to improve their approach and accuracy. Alana has since left the company, but the program is still used today and has expanded into other indications for BOTOX.
At Urovant, Alana has held numerous roles over the last four years—from marketing to communications. Early on, she felt strongly that Urovant had a great corporate story. Working with the CEO, she gained the opportunity to build out the company’s corporate communications team in-house. Believing in the importance of integrated communications—she positioned internal communications as the central core of the strategic plan. Employees provided input and direction for the brand elements and participated in sharing the story themselves. Out of this, a social media ambassador team of hand-selected employees who wanted to share the company’s story and day-to-day life of its employees began to contribute to the authentic voice externally. Not only has external company awareness and reputation grown, but to date the company has also been named a Best Places to Work in Orange County twice and once by Fortune Great Places to Work in Biopharma 2022—landing 17th out of the small, medium-size businesses.
Currently, Alana has transitioned back to marketing—this time leading the GEMTESA marketing team. Last year, GEMTESA was the fastest-growing branded product in overactive bladder—in year two on the market.
