Patricia Moretti
Head of Consumer Marketing,
GSK Canada
With its diversity of dynamic and rewarding career paths, the pharma industry offers abundant opportunity.
The pharmaceutical industry is a great place to be for ambitious young professionals with an interest in business and STEM. Canada’s pharma sector employs over 110,000 people and contributed $18.4 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2022. It’s also one of Canada’s most innovative industries.
Rewarding career paths
“The pharmaceutical industry is constantly evolving, because scientific innovation never stands still,” says Patricia Moretti, Head of Consumer Marketing at GSK Canada, a global biopharma company operating in Canada dating back to 1902. “If you’re someone who likes health sciences, then the pharma industry is an interesting prospect.”
From R&D to marketing, manufacturing, and regulatory affairs, pharma offers dynamic and rewarding career paths for both science and non-science professionals. Moretti describes the industry as one that’s fast-paced and ever-changing, and that rewards creativity and innovation. “Creativity, innovation and the willingness to explore different approaches is a must in today’s marketplace, and pharma is no exception,” she says.
“The pharmaceutical industry is constantly evolving, because scientific innovation never stands still.”
GSK’s Leadership
GSK Canada is a key player in the pharma industry with a portfolio of vaccines, specialty and general medicines. The company is active in 75 countries, and operates 37 manufacturing sites, including one in Canada. Employing more than 1,600 full time employees in Canada, GSK is one of the largest contributors to R&D in the country, having invested over $2 billion in Canadian R&D since 2001. It also has a strong global pipeline, with 71 vaccines and medicines currently in development.
Moretti notes the importance of exploring new approaches in healthcare marketing, and explains how this attracted her to GSK and has guided the creation of the consumer marketing team. “The team consists of people with diverse backgrounds in industries like CPG and retail, and we look to apply that knowledge and expertise to speak to people in their language and communicate health messages in human terms,” she says. “An aspect that makes GSK stand out is the company’s interest in continuing to raise the bar in consumer marketing, strategy and innovation. People are at the heart of what we do.”
Humanizing pharma
“It’s been said that ‘Data is the language of science, but emotion is the language of humans.’ That’s what we aim to do from a consumer marketing perspective. We help translate the science into something more relatable for people that may benefit from our products.”
This innovation can take many forms, from influencer partnerships to experiential and retail marketing — anything that will help to break convention and connect more meaningfully with people.
Moretti also notes the value of challenging traditional thinking in the industry. “The people that we hire don’t always have pharma backgrounds,” she says. “It’s those different perspectives that injects diversity of thought into the organization to drive creativity and innovation across all aspects of the business.”
Interested in exploring a career in pharma at GSK? Visit ca.gsk.com/en-ca/careers to learn more.
