Episode 2: Be Authentic with Michael Kuderka

Today I speak with Michael Kuderka, an experienced pharmaceutical marketer. I liked what he had to say about being authentic. Michael suggests that pharmaceutical brands these days need to lock down a patient population where the brand can legitimately add the most value, and then own that market by developing strong value propositions for each stakeholder along the patient journey. Michael says in the long run, this is a much better strategy than fighting for a tiny piece of a giant pie. Especially when the clinical differentiation across such broad sweeps of patients is rarely well-defined and even more rarely will motivate prescribers to switch up their current standard of care. Soon after my talk with Michael, I heard a guy named Ian Altman speak on another podcast. His message dovetailed perfectly with Michael's point of view. I immediately went out and bought his book, called "Same Side Selling." Ian advises that sellers and marketers aim to be "Some Things to the Right People." He says that when a buyer senses that the seller is more interested in selling than in delivering value, trust vanishes. I can easily see how this applies to pharmaceutical brands. Michael Kuderka An innovative marketing professional Michael Kuderka is a pharmaceutical Marketing Director with over 22 years of sales and marketing experience. Michael has a demonstrated talent for branding, positioning, messaging, and strategic and tactical planning for such products as Covera-HS, Boniva, Zenpep, and Pylera, and brand life-cycle experience ranging from early commercialization, to launch, to in-market branding, through generic competition. In his career Michael has gained experience in large and small specialty pharma settings, working at Pharmacia Corp., Roche Laboratories, Eurand, Inc, and Aptalis Pharma, resulting in hands-on experience in the Cardiovascular, Osteoporosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Pancreatic Insufficiency, H.pylori, and the Duodenal Ulcer disease markets. Michael Kuderka can be contacted via e-mail at mkuderka@comcast.net.