Louisa Pericleous

About me

I was born/grew up in:  I was born in London, England. I grew up in Athens, Greece.

I now live in:  I am now living in Thousand Oaks, California

I completed my training/education at: PhD in Biochemistry at Imperial College, London, UK.; Masters in Health Economics and International Health Policy from London School of Economics

What I do at work

I am responsible for the development of the Global Access Strategy for the 2 products I work on. This includes the payer evidence strategy and pricing strategy. My job is to ensure patients across the world have the best possible access to our products.

I provide direction and informal leadership to members within the access organisation. I work closely with colleagues in many different countries. I also work with other members of Amgen’s global team. This includes people who work on the medical side as well as those who work in marketing.

Our goal is to ensure we provide the people, who make decisions about what medicines to pay for, with the information they need to decide if our products will be included on their list of prescribed drugs. This includes such information as the benefits and cost of our products.  

My experience to date, as well as my science background, gives me the ability me to make strategic decisions, recommendations and analyse scientific data. I am also involved in decisions relating to research involving clinical trial design, real world data and quality of life data.

My career path is

I always loved science and helping people. It made sense to me to go to university to study science. I studied biochemistry and eventually completed a PhD. After my PhD, I realized the pace was too slow for me. I went on to do a Masters in health economics and started working in the pharmaceutical industry shortly after. Over the years, I have worked for three different pharmaceutical companies as new opportunities became available to me and lived in four different countries. Each job has allowed my knowledge and skills to continue to develop and grow.

I am motivated by

I love it when I hear from patients, and the people who look after them, on how our medicines affect their quality of life. I enjoy working with a team of very intelligent people who challenge and support me.  I like that this role helps me stay close to science and helps me see the impact of my work faster. This translates to helping patients in a timely manner.

How I affect peoples’ lives

I work to ensure patients with serious diseases have choices in their treatment. I also work to help them have access to Amgen's innovative products once they have been approved by regulatory bodies such as Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Outside of work I

 I do ballroom dancing. I love to read, jog and spend time with my dog. I like to bake.

My advice to others

If you want to get into the pricing and costing side of pharmaceuticals, take Health Economics in your undergrad. Stay open-minded and know that you will learn the rest on the job. Say yes to every opportunity!