PatientPod
October 16, 2026
Pharma Is Too Obsessed With the Prescription: Access, launches, and what happens after the script
In this episode of the Patient Pod, our CEO George Kramb is joined Rich Verde, a 20-year veteran of Ferring Pharmaceuticals who went from selling fertility products in Manhattan to leading the launch of an oncology gene therapy. Rich’s insights are a must-listen for anyone who believes the real work starts, rather than ends, when the doctor says yes.
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About the Speakers
With 20 years at Ferring Pharmaceuticals across sales, training, brand management, strategic accounts, and launch excellence, Rich Verde serves as Senior Director, Patient Access & Services, leading the teams behind access, reimbursement, and patient navigation. He led the launch of an oncology gene therapy that reached its first patient nine months from a standing start.
Here's exactly what you'll learn:
Rich traces a career that began at an ad agency and turned into 20 years in pharma, built on a single rule: never say no to the opportunity. From lobbying Congress for IVF coverage, to a lunch meeting that handed him a gene therapy launch in a therapeutic area he had never worked in, to an FDA approval that arrived by phone call with no one to celebrate with, he makes the case that the prescription is just the beginning.
Whether you’re in sales, marketing, patient services, or field reimbursement, or you’re earlier in your career and weighing a lateral move, this conversation is full of ideas you can put to work right away. The conversation dives into:
Whether you’re in sales, marketing, patient services, or field reimbursement, or you’re earlier in your career and weighing a lateral move, this conversation is full of ideas you can put to work right away. The conversation dives into:
How an ad agency job turned into a 20-year career in pharma, and why Rich never says no to an opportunity
What lobbying Congress for IVF coverage taught him about patient access, years before it became his job
The FDA approval that came by phone call with no one to celebrate with, and what “let’s go to work” looked like the next day
How a team with no oncology or gene therapy experience got a first patient dosed in nine months
The four traits Rich screens for after 500 interviews: work ethic, humility, integrity, and maturity
His hot take on why pharma is too obsessed with the prescription, and where the investment needs to go instead
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Melissa B.
Sobi Pharmaceuticals
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Brad A.
Mainstay Medical
Sara W.
Marketing Director | Rare Disease
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