Mike Huckman spent 27 years in television--the last eight of them covering the pharma beat for CNBC--before joining healthcare PR powerhouse MS&L as SVP, director of media strategy last month.

Back in July, an esteemed panel of 41 expert healthcare executives, spanning the fields of marketing, communications and media, came together to review and score several hundred submissions to the MM&M Awards 2010. The result of their efforts is the shortlist of finalists from which the overall winners will be announced and recognized in New York on October 12

Every job is a journey, and pharma marketing is no exception. Here are eight who are chugging along to fulfilling careers, both professionally and personally

Employees may be an agency's number-one asset, but priorities can change when profits are at stake. As Tanya Lewis finds, smart agencies are not scaling back their employee programs. Instead, they are making associates feel well cared for as they make the investments needed to reclaim momentum

Following last year's unprecedented decreases, average salaries have bounced back to 2008 levels. Is the storm finally passing? James Chase reports on the key findings of the Career & Salary Survey 2010

At first glance, Nagoya, Japan-based Kowa, which last month launched a statin, Livalo, in the US, looks to be running a somewhat counterintuitive play, expanding into a market in decline and starting with a category in decline--at least for branded pharmas.

Metabolic products--for diabetes, obesity and hypothyroidism--are a $19.5-billion category, with oral and injectable diabetes treatments representing the lion's share. The rising number of people with type 2 diabetes, fueled by obesity, is expected to drive growth in this market, Marc Iskowitz finds

In the last two years, a bevy of online niche social networks have taken root alongside the larger MD communities. As sites catch on, providing new ways to engage with PCPs and specialists, pharma has quickly tapped in to reach these segments. Paul Wynn reports

Manufacturers launching products into ever more powerful managed markets will find that contracting strategy is a tug of war between the product's value proposition and a payer's desire for cost effectiveness. Kevin O'Leary and Gerhard Gallwitz explain why some managed-care contracts yield better results than others

Languages, cultures and federal regulations aside, is marketing pharmaceutical products outside of the US all that different? Ben Comer talks global strategy with the experts