Rare Disease Account Specialist - Southwest

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland.  For more than 30 years, Ionis has been the leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with our novel antisense technology. Ionis currently has multiple approved medicines marketed by our partners and a premier late-stage pipeline highlighted by industry-leading cardiovascular and neurological franchises.  Our scientific innovation began and continues with the knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision to become the undisputed leader in genetic medicine, utilizing a multi-platform approach to discover, develop and deliver life-transforming therapies.

As the first company to fully harness the power of RNA technology for human therapeutics, Ionis’ platform continues to revolutionize drug discovery and transform lives for patients with unmet needs.  We are building upon our innovative research and drug development excellence to provide greater value to patients, and we are well positioned financially to deliver on our strategic goals.

Ionis is a challenging, motivating and rewarding environment designed to foster innovation and scientific excellence.  Our success is a direct result of our outstanding employees.  We are interested in bringing together a diverse group of individuals with different skill sets and perspectives into this creative environment to be part of a productive and inclusive team.  While acknowledging people are actively engaged in hybrid/remote work, we continue to invest time, money, and energy into making our workplace locations a place where our culture and employees can thrive.  We believe engaging on a day-to-day basis, in person, builds solid and lasting relationships, and contributes positively to our culture and innovation.  From the heart of our stunning Carlsbad campus, we aim to provide a central connection point for all our employees.  These facilities give us the opportunity to connect cross-functionally, collaborate and to build on the success of our business as we continue to grow.  Join us and experience our unique culture while you develop and expand your career.

POSITION:

The Rare Disease Account Specialist is a field-based role responsible for building and managing long-term relationships with physicians and other customers for the accounts in their assigned territory. The Account Specialist will be a hybrid role of providing access support and education to the accounts while also delivering key promotional messages to advocate on behalf of Familial Chylomicronemia Syndrome (FCS) patients. The Account Specialist will represent the organization in the FCS community educating external customers such as physicians, nurses, billing managers, and office staff about the approved indication and clinical information in relation to the FCS disease state and the appropriate use of olezarsen once FDA approved. The Account Specialist role is also responsible for supporting healthcare provider offices with access support in a compliant manner.

Ideal Location: San Diego, CA or Phoenix, AZ 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Account Specialist will possess a deep understanding of the healthcare market in their respective territory and the FCS community, including the key customers and accounts treating cardiovascular and lipid related diseases. This will include understanding the unique objectives and needs of each customer in their pursuit of improved patient outcomes. The Account Specialist will achieve this by building, maintaining, and leveraging networks and relationships in the local healthcare system to develop and execute effective business plans to meet customer and Ionis goals. The Account Specialist will serve as a cross-functional teammate:  building trust and collaborating with a diverse team of people with deep functional and therapeutic area expertise and engaging effectively and compliantly across the therapeutic field teams to bring a novel treatment to FCS patients, our first wholly owned product launch. All statements regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Account Specialist are dependent upon olezarsen approval.

Customer Engagement and Experience

• Educate HCPs and office staff about olezarsen, its brand messages, efficacy, and safety using approved marketing materials and verbiage
• Educate HCPs and office staff on the olezarsen access process (including high-level steps, payer-specific coverage policies, typical challenges faced, etc.)
• Use tokenized patient hub data via CRM to provide patient access status updates to customers
• Raise FCS disease state awareness, educate on diagnostic pathway, and instill an urgency to treat familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS)
• Create positive prescribing and access support experience for HCPs
• Promote Ionis patient services offerings to encourage customer participation and appropriate program utilization
• Participate in conferences, congresses, and other scientific meetings to educate HCPs on FCS disease state and treatment

Market Knowledge

• Gather insights to profile accounts and provide feedback to field leadership and marketing to inform olezarsen sales & marketing strategy
• Understand local referral networks, including primary treaters, secondary treaters, and referral patterns for FCS patients
• Identify, validate, and document potential HCPs treating FCS patients to inform commercial strategy

Account Planning

• Execute the brand strategic plans by developing and executing customer focused territory strategic account plans to maximize business opportunities and customer satisfaction
• Build insight-driven focused tactics by understanding brand requirements & anticipating the current and future needs of our key customers including hospital and office-based Endocrinologists, Cardiologists and other sub-specialties that treat FCS patients
• Adjust strategies to meet business goals in assigned region through territory strategic insight
• Develop strategic account plans in conjunction with field and brand leadership to appropriately engage accounts based on customer needs and brand strategic objectives
• [Before launch only] Create a comprehensive launch day engagement plan with specific strategies and activities
• [Before launch only] Schedule customer meetings for post-launch and visit accounts based on the territory call plan

Training

• Participate in field meetings and training programs to understand olezarsen and brand messaging strategy, familial chylomicronemia syndrome disease state, and customer engagement tactics to effectively engage customers
• Strengthen knowledge of evolving payer landscape and policies
• Certify on approved label, compliance training and all applicable customer engagement policies
• Learn and adhere to the company's mission and vision, policies and procedures, including the Ionis Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.

Teamwork

• Collaborate effectively and compliantly with other Account Specialists and other field teams (e.g., Patient Education Managers, Field Medical Directors)
• Share learnings from customer engagement activities with other field team members and leadership (e.g., national/regional leads, marketing, field ops, analytics)
• Leverage all available platforms and technology to engage customers through multiple channels and enhance their overall experience
• Partner on accounts with patients who are seen by multiple specialties in multiple geographies

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Master’s and/or advanced degrees (e.g., MBA, PhD, PharmD) preferred
• Total 4-6+ years of experience in Pharma sales or FRM roles across the following competencies:
  • Rare diseases and product launches
  • HCP and IDN engagement
  • Cross-functional field team coordination
  • Scaling from one indication to another (especially small prevalence to large prevalence)
  • Customer reimbursement and drug access education and support
• Extensive comprehension of the healthcare ecosystem including market access landscape and payer reimbursement policies for rare disease products
• Analytical skills to build product knowledge competency in pharmaceuticals, competitor products, and relevant disease states
• Self-driven with the ability to solve a wide array of customer challenges with integrity and in a compliant manner
• Excellent communications and presentation skills
• Proven track record for consistently and compliantly meeting or exceeding financial and/or other quantitative and qualitative targets
• Solid understanding of and adherence to external laws, codes, and company policies that apply to the healthcare industry and proper interaction with healthcare professionals

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