About pharmaMARK
pharmaMARK was founded in 2008 based on the observation that commercial activities (marketing, market research, business development, etc.) ebb and flow at pharmaceutical and biotech companies, that there is the need for skilled and capable short-term and/or part-time individuals with industry experience who can “parachute” in and take on complex commercial tasks on day one. Consider it “fractional commercial capability”. Individuals at pharmaMARK have worked in both a short-term staffing capacity and on specific projects.
This model has found particular resonance with small to medium-sized companies earlier in the development of their assets where there is the need to better understand the customer set, build a forecast, draft a target product profile, etc., but where hiring a full-time commercial person isn’t financially prudent. Additionally, larger consulting firms don’t necessarily staff projects of this type with people who have spent decades actually doing this type of work earlier in their careers.
JP Benya
Founder and Principal
JP Benya has over 30 years of operational and commercial experience in the healthcare industry, having spent 15 years in big pharma and the balance of the time with biotech and consulting startups. JP was most recently Senior VP Operations at Flame Biosciences where he was responsible for all operational and commercial activities and, before that, he was at Assembly Biosciences where he developed and implemented the commercial framework for HBV cure and microbiome-based therapeutics. At Sanofi JP was responsible for the marketing of AMBIEN and AMBIEN CR. JP began his career at Schering-Plough working on INTRON A and GM-CSF.
In 2008 JP founded pharmaMARK LLC, a boutique consulting firm offering commercial analytical and implementation capabilities.
JP is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MBA from Columbia University.
Ben Jagt
Associate
With an initial background in operations, Ben Jagt has extensive experience providing consulting and training services in hospital systems, engaging extensively with physicians, PAs, NPs, and patients in multiple settings (i.e., emergency room, operating room, clinic, etc.). Deliverables included insurance billing criteria, HIPAA-compliant chart transcription, hospital protocol, and medical reasoning processes. Additionally, he is adept with Python, SQL, and R, writing code that handles thousands of lines of data. An accomplished Ultimate Disc athlete, Ben also advises coaching staff and team owners on tactical and strategic implementation issues.
Ben has a biology degree from the University of Minnesota and is working toward a master's in public health.
David Fink
Senior Consultant
David Fink is a former Fortune 500 company executive with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry specializing in Change Leadership, Business Strategy, and Product Development & Commercialization. He has successfully led businesses from $250 million to over $1 billion, launched over twenty new products, built seven commercial organizations and led numerous strategic alliances with partners including AstraZeneca, Bausch & Lomb, Ferring, Fisher-Price, Gillette, Leo Pharmaceuticals, Medigene, Reckitt, and Sepracor.
David currently consults and has served as a Board Director/Advisor to several early-stage pharma and biotechnology companies. He is a Senior Lecturer and Executive in Residence at Coastal Carolina University where he teaches MBA and undergraduate leadership, corporate strategy, and healthcare strategy & marketing. Professor Fink was recognized as the 2020 Coastal Carolina University Distinguished Professor of the Year, awarded the Vereen Teaching Impact Professorship Award in 2017, and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society Professor of the Year in 2018 and 2020.
He received his MBA from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and his undergraduate degree in business from Radford University.