MA Global Strategic Brand Lead

Astellas Pharma; Markham; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading pharmaceutical company is seeking a Medical Affairs Global Strategic Brand Lead to drive global brand value and strategy. This role involves collaboration across teams, leading evidence generation, and managing stakeholder relationships to enhance patient access and brand performance. The ideal candidate will have a strong medical background, proven leadership skills, and experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years in Medical Affairs or Clinical Development roles.
• Experience in leading brand medical affairs strategy and product launches.

Responsibilities

• Lead co-creation of Integrated Global Brand Plan with cross-functional teams.
• Accountable for delivery of CMP evidence generation and dissemination tactics.
• Build relationships with external stakeholders and advocacy groups.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic Thinking

Communication

Problem Solving

Stakeholder Management

Education

Medical Degree (MD) or Doctorate in Pharmacy

Tools

ServiceNow

Data Visualization tools

Job description

Astellas Canada – Medical Affairs Global Strategic Brand Lead

At Astellas, we strive to become a cutting-edge, value-driven life science innovator. This means working at the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients.

What sets us apart is our focus on patients, our pioneering innovation, our collaborative culture, and the passion of our talented people.

Making a positive impact on patients’ lives is the purpose behind everything we do. At Astellas, we are relentless in our pursuit of scientific progress and in tackling unmet medical needs, demonstrated by our legacy in oncology, overactive bladder and transplant and our impressive pipeline in women's health, blindness and regeneration, genetic regulation, immuno-oncology, mitochondria and targeted protein degradation.

About Us

We are a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan, with a team of more than 14,000 managing operations in approximately 70 countries around the world. We are in the Top 30 global biopharma company based on global revenues and are predicted to be one of the Top 10 Cancer Drug Makers of 2024 by Fierce Pharma.

In Canada, we are growing to meet the exciting opportunities realized by our legacy brands and rich pipeline of innovative treatments.

We are looking for candidates who will thrive in our entrepreneurial and empowering environment where talent and leadership flourish. Do your values align with our Astellas Way - patient focus, ownership, results, openness, and integrity? Then we would love to hear from you.

From the first day in role, everyone at Astellas has a responsibility for creating a brighter future for patients around the world. We nurture exceptional relationships with our employees to allow them to thrive, foster innovation, and deliver exceptional business results. We work to create a culture where our people feel empowered to pursue brave ideas and ambitious outcomes, to have the confidence to be accountable for a higher standard of performance and embody a competitive and solutions-oriented mindset.

Our expertise, science and technology make us a pharma company. Our open and diverse culture is what makes us uniquely Astellas.

Astellas Pharma Canada (APCA) is currently searching for a Medical Affairs Global Strategic Brand Lead .

Description:

The Medical Affairs Global Strategic Brand Lead (MA GSBL) is a core member of the Asset Maximization Team & co-leads the Global Co-creation Team (GCT). In collaboration with the Commercial Global Brand Lead (GBL) and Development Asset Lead (AL), the MA GSBL is responsible for driving the global value of a brand. This role focuses on long-term asset value creation, portfolio strategy, and lifecycle management to achieve the brand’s full potential. The MA GSBL provides medical input into development of the brand strategy, leads the Core Medical Team (CMT) and facilitates agile Core Medical Plan (CMP) development whilst remaining accountable for delivery of CMP evidence generation and dissemination tactics. The MA GSBL ensures seamless execution of CMP that balances global objectives with local needs and adaptability. As Benefit Risk Team (BRT) chair, the MA GSBL is also responsible for leading, presenting and defending routine and ad-hoc assessments concerning the Benefit/Risk of the product.

Essential Job Duties:

Strategic Leadership:

• Lead co-creation of the Integrated Global Brand Plan (iGBP) with cross-functional experts and co-creation affiliates, serving as the brand’s strategic foundation

• Lead the development of Medical Product Strategy (MPS) and facilitate agile Core Medical Plan (CMP) development

• Contribute to creation of Integrated Evidence Generation Plan (iEGP) with cross-functional experts,

• serving as the strategic foundation for evidence generation

• Define and oversee overarching brand objectives with medical KPIs, ensuring alignment with global and local strategies

• Co-lead the development of Global Launch Plans. Present to executive leadership at Global Launch

• Readiness Review meetings, optimising readiness for an exceptional launch

• Lead Medical input for Lifecycle Management (LCM) strategies and Loss of Exclusivity (LOE) planning to enhance long-term asset value

Medical Affairs Excellence:

• Lead a high-impact CMT with accountability for delivery of CMP evidence generation and dissemination tactics, ensuring seamless execution that balances global objectives with local needs and adaptability. Accountable for budget management associated with evidence generation and dissemination tactics executed globally

• Empower & enable affiliates to deliver on non-evidence generation and dissemination tactics of the CMP, whilst encouraging iterative dialogue to address local needs

• Overall accountable for all MA evidence generation activities supporting the brand strategy. Activities may be executed by global, regional, or local teams. Lead CMT Study Review Committee (CMT SRC) to ensure robust governance and review of synopsis/protocols of all MA sponsored studies maintaining high standards for evidence generation

• Accountable for implementation of the Integrated Evidence Dissemination Plan with strong scientific messages to support the brand. Ensure provision of centralized resources and iterative feedback to refine scientific messaging

• Enable execution of the medical components of the Global launch plan, providing KPIs and metrics to track global progress

• Responsible for leading, presenting and defending routine and ad-hoc assessments of the Benefit/Risk of the assigned product. Represent BRT perspective at Global Benefit Risk Committee (GBRC) and in communication with Executive Labelling Committee (ELC)

Cross-Functional Collaboration :

• Foster cross-functional collaboration (e.g., AMT, GCT, BRT) through Agile touchpoints

• Collaborate with Commercial, Market Access, Development, Patient Centricity, Local (co-creation) and Regional Medical Affairs Teams to align on strategies that reflect the needs of patients and healthcare providers

• Partner with R&D teams to influence asset development and ensure clinical viability and patient access for future pipeline assets

• Communicate key insights captured through advisory interactions and Field Medical with the Asset Team and GCT, ensuring swift responses to evolving needs. Support identification of KEEs and academic institutions to drive accelerated clinical trial delivery in line with Bold Ambition

• Drive integration and alignment across geographies, ensuring a consistent approach to medical affairs execution and messaging for the brand

• Collaborate with key stakeholders (e.g. Regulatory Affairs, Labelling, Pharmacovigilance, Commercial) to create competitive and optimized product labels aligned with regulatory requirements and market needs

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with external stakeholders, including key external experts,

• advocacy groups, medical organizations and regulatory bodies, to strengthen the company’s global

• presence and reputation in the therapeutic area

• Act as a trusted representative for the company in external forums, conferences, and industry partnerships

Coaching and Team Development :

• Coach and develop members of the CMT and GCT, fostering competencies and behaviours aligned with the Astellas way, CMT Ways of Working and preparing for future organizational needs

• Drive cultural and operational transformation initiatives, ensuring long-term sustainable success

• Compliance and Ethics:

• Embed a strong compliance culture across all activities, ensuring adherence to company policies and

• industry regulations

• Act as a role model for ethical behaviour, fostering integrity and accountability within the organization

Qualifications:

Education:

A medical degree (MD or equivalent) or Doctorate degree in Pharmacy or Pharmacology recognized by

one of the leading governing bodies from around the globe

Experience and Expertise:

• Minimum 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in country, region or global Medical Affairs,

• Medical Safety or Clinical Development roles within the Pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, with a significant amount of time spent in Medical Affairs

• Expertise in leading cross-functional and geographically diverse matrix teams while delivering high-impact business results. The ability to influence without direct authority is a critical skill set for this role.

• Demonstrated success in leading the brand medical affairs strategy, including product launches and lifecycle management

• Strong ability to develop innovative, patient-centered medical affairs evidence generation and

dissemination strategies that drive patient access and brand performance

• Has knowledge of TA/disease/product and is able to operate across multiple products within TA.

• Has advanced understanding of rules and regulations in pharma, including knowledge of global regulatory bodies and procedures, as well as anti-kickback laws, which could have impact for the pharmaceutical industry. Appropriate knowledge of guidelines and regulations such as IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association), PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), FDA, EMA, PMDA, ACCME and OIG. Is able to apply legal and compliance knowledge to Medical Affairs activities

• Experience in managing large budgets with demonstrated ability to apply proactive risk management on budget and timelines

Skills and Leadership:

• Proven ability to lead and inspire high-performing global matrix teams in a fast-paced, matrixed

• Environment

• Exceptional strategic thinking, business acumen, and decision-making skills

• Strong communication, influencing, and stakeholder management abilities

• Complex problem-solving skills and ability to manage more complex problems within a brand team

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working in the Pharmaceutical or other highly regulated industry.

• Experience with ServiceNow, or Data Visualization tools (e.g. Qlik, PowerBI).

• Experience working in an IT organization and/or with IT vendors.

Working Environment

Hybrid work arrangements (on-site/work from home) from certain locations may be permitted in accordance with Astellas’ Responsible Flexibility Guidelines.

Additional Information

Astellas Pharma Canada welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the hiring process.

Astellas Pharma Canada requires full Vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Reasonable accommodation to this policy may be granted for a valid accommodation request under human rights legislation.

No telephone inquiries, in-person applications, or agencies please. While we appreciate all applications, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

Category MA Global Brand Strategy

Astellas is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment.

EOE including Disability/Protected Veterans