Chuck Hrushka, Executive Director of Marketing, Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.
As Executive Director of Marketing at Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Chuck Hrushka leads healthcare professional and consumer efforts for the company’s cardiometabolic product portfolio.
Kowa’s lead product, LIVALO (pitavastatin), faces a crowded statin marketplace, dominated by generics and patient compliance challenges. To address the brand challenges, Chuck spearheaded a two-pronged approach to reach healthcare providers and patients.
First, he uncovered the insights that patients were unaware that there were different types of statins, and that more doctor-patient communication around statins was needed based on market research, online conversation, and behavioral analysis. He also led the development of a survey-based study of 5,014 U.S. patients on statin therapy called ACTION: The Statin Survey (Understanding Patient Adherence and Concerns with STatins, and MedicatION Discussions with Physicians), which quantified the education gaps.
Second, based on insights, Chuck led the creation of targeted multichannel campaigns to drive action among HCPs and consumers. To address the issue of statin compliance and medication cessation versus switching, the unbranded disease awareness program “Take Cholesterol to Heart” showcases Kowa’s commitment to patients, reaching 892 million through media, social media, digital, and influencer marketing and communications efforts and driving 157,785 visits to the campaign website.
To drive brand awareness, the new LIVALO consumer and HCP campaigns position LIVALO as the go-to second-line statin. The professional campaign focuses on educating HCPs about LIVALO to address patients’ statin challenges. The digital and print consumer campaign features patients’ stories, highlighting their statin challenges and their experience with LIVALO. To date, the campaigns have resulted in a greater than 2% increase in prescription sales.
