Sally Church

Prior to founding Icarus Consultants, I spent twelve years with Novartis in strategic planning, sales, marketing and new product development.

After 7 years in the UK, I transferred to the US in New Jersey. As an Associate Director in oncology new products I was responsible for STI-571, which I later helped launch as Gleevec (imatinib).

Gleevec is a phenomenal breakthrough drug which targets cancer cells while leaving normal cells largely alone. It began phase I clinical trials in September 1998 and received expedited approval from the FDA on May 10th, 2001, an industry record at the time. We shipped drug to patients within hours of receiving the license, something we were all very thrilled about because a patient with advanced disease was able to receive urgent treatment the very next morning.

Gleevec is approved for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and a rare form of stomach cancer called gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST). It is now a billion dollar blockbuster drug and something I was very honoured and proud to be part of. Even the name makes you smile :-).

After 3 product launches in 18 months, I was ready for new challenges and established Icarus Consultants with my business partner Pieter Droppert, who also has a strong science and strategy background. Icarus is a boutique consulting company specialising in strategy and marketing within the oncology, hematology and immunology areas. In 6 years of consulting we have gone from strength to strength.

As consultants, we realise that we can truly have a broader impact advising on a greater number of brands. We help a variety of biotech, pharma and generic companies bring new drugs to market using our extensive scientific, marketing and strategy experience to bear, by providing creative insights and practical solutions. We work in a wide range of therapeutic areas, although we do have a lot experience in oncology and hematology.

Examples of projects we have undertaken include:

- Social Media Monitoring
- Competitive and Business Intelligence
- Landscape Opportunity Assessments
- Portfolio Analysis
- Primary Market Research esp. with KOL's
- Licensing Evaluations
- Market Entry Strategy
- Various other strategic analyses including pricing, reimbursement, etc
- And many others.

You can contact us via email at http://is.gd/fH7i or call 201 204 9210 for further information.

I love what I do for a living and enjoy time away from work to chill out too.