Karen Sullivan, Associate Director, U.S. Hematology Marketing, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Karen Sullivan not only led the re-positioning of Takeda’s brand portfolio, but in doing so led a transformation of the entire dynamic market for Hemophilia A. New therapies for the disease are changing the landscape to make HCP and patient education more important than ever. Shifting paradigms have also made it more difficult to navigate the Hemophilia A market, calling for a trustworthy guide and clear education materials for the 20,000 patients in the U.S. and 400,000 Hemophilia A patients globally, as well as their physicians.
Karen’s mission prioritized helping patients and HCPs navigate this dynamic landscape by re-positioning the Takeda brand portfolio and working cross functionally to introduce the first use of Real-World Evidence (RWE) to demonstrate how Takeda’s portfolio of products impacted patient outcomes. The new branded campaigns she led were grounded in the patient journey, speaking to the aspirations and educational needs of stakeholders. In doing so, Karen interacted with key stakeholders on several occasions to learn about their needs and obtain feedback on how Takeda could better provide education and support.
Elevating Patient Care
This impressive success as a marketer comes from her strong ability to understand the changing treatment landscape and stakeholder insights, allowing her to effectively translate strategy into actionable tactics. Through her work, Karen has helped provide clarity on identifying the most appropriate patients for Takeda’s portfolio of products while aligning brand messaging and resources to educate stakeholders on the value proposition in an impactful manner. For this, she was recently recognized at Takeda with the “One Takeda” award for her contributions, the highest level of recognition to non-sales colleagues for outstanding contributions towards elevating patient care and achieving business priorities while emulating the core values of Takeda.
Karen’s perseverance, patient-focused approach, and positive attitude have helped her deliver several innovative solutions to advance the care of patients. Takeda’s most recent survey of HCPs shows improvement in knowledge, credibility communication, and effective use of materials for the sales team. Key message recall with HCPs has improved significantly. HCPs find the messages motivate them to act differently. Downloads of patient resources, and organic and paid search traffic to Takeda websites, also increased since the launch of these initiatives. Her dedication made a clear impact on the industry as well as the lives of those living with Hemophilia A and the HCPs who help them through the disease.
