Finalist
Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) UK
Summary of work
In 2017, MSD UK External Affairs aimed to make the company the most respected and admired healthcare company among government, NHS and customer stakeholders – delivering the business strategy through a team of great communicators. NHS uptake of important new treatments was never more challenging; Brexit and the Life Sciences Industry Strategy posed even bigger issues to reputation and business. Too often too quiet, we now needed to stand out like never before to deliver our mission.
The strategy was tattooed on our structure. Under Jess Fine, new Head of External Affairs, three sub-teams collaborated across Corporate Policy (national, company-wide policy and strategic direction for political engagement); Strategic Communications (corporate, internal and social media communications); and Therapy Policy & Communications (partnering the business in specific therapy areas).
The team impacted patient care positively across the board – engaging policy leaders and media to tell the story of a major new UK investment in R&D, coordinated with the Life Sciences Industry Strategy Launch; partnering to support positive HTA recommendations where no company had succeeded before; crafting collaborations creatively with a wide array of policy and healthcare leaders to deliver real progress in multiple therapy areas. We built our future – and we built our team.
Judges’ comments
The MSD team delivered a very ambitious yet inspirational presentation, which detailed their journey with great vision. They handled a lot of internal change successfully and their team was bursting with pride. It was fantastic to see a team so proud of their achievements.
