Author Archives: Joanna Breitstein

Merck's Yarno Waves Goodbye

By Joanna Breitstein | Published: July 14, 2008
After more than 25 years at Merck, Wendy Yarno, the company’s chief marketing officer, will retire. The announcement of Yarno’s stepping down was made this morning in an e-mail to Merck employees. Yarno joined Merck in 1983 as a sales rep, went on to launch Cozaar and Hyzaar, and then eventually was named to oversee marketing [...]
Posted in People | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scientists Without Borders

By Joanna Breitstein | Published: May 13, 2008
The New York Academy of Sciences held its kickoff last night of Scientists Without Borders. “It’s a Match.com for organizations and resources focused on helping the developing world,” said NYAS president Ellis Rubinstein. The initiative so far consists of a just-launched wiki—and, as such, leaves a little to be desired in terms of content. But the [...]
Posted in R&D, Strategy, Technology | Leave a comment

PRSA Day 2: Join the Conversation

By Joanna Breitstein | Published: April 4, 2008
The second dispatch from Marina Maher Communication’s healthcare guru Megan Svensen: It’s the second day of the 19th Annual PRSA Health Academy meeting in Chicago and the morning has provided more valuable learnings. Ed Schipul, CEO of Schipul – The Web Marketing Company, gave a great analogy in his talk: He says joining the blogosphere [...]
Posted in E-Media, Marketing, Meetings | 3 Comments

PRSA Day 1: Talking’ Cross Gen

By Joanna Breitstein | Published: April 4, 2008
The discussions over the next model for pharma fall all over the map, but include one central component: a conversation with consumers. How to do it? Here, Megan Svensen, executive vice president of healthcare for Marina Maher Communications, reports in from the annual Public Relations Society of America boot camp on healthcare. I’m coming to you [...]
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ACC News Echoes Cost/Benefit Concerns

By Joanna Breitstein | Published: March 31, 2008
News flowing from the American College of Cardiology meeting has been dominated by Vytorin. And after the presentation analyzing results yesterday, Miller Tabak analyst Les Fundleyter says, “We’re done for the conference in terms of the important stuff. Vytorin is the story this year.” So what is Vytorin’s story exactly? Industry watchers say they are still [...]
Posted in Meetings, R&D, Regulatory | 1 Comment