Michael Beyer
Director of Media Relations
Michael Beyer brings 16 years of media relations experience to The Harbinger Group. He has particular experience in healthcare industries, where he has planned media strategy, directed media relations efforts and conducted outreach to key reporters on behalf of his clients. He has also conducted global media relations to key news outlets in Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Mike served Pharmacia Corp. in media relations activities for the company’s oncology portfolio. He arranged media interviews for top Pharmacia executives and spokesdoctors discussing clinical trial results for CAMPTOSAR, SU5416 and CELEBREX. He has helped to direct and coordinate media relations activities for Pharmacia Oncology at the 2001 and 2002 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meetings, resulting in articles placed in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press and USA Today.
Mike also assisted with media relations and science communications activities surrounding the FDA approval and launch of ZYVOXÔ, a treatment for gram-positive, hospital-acquired infections. Placements were secured in Time, U.S. News & World Report, and the New York Times, among others. He was also part of the team that coordinated media relations activities for the FDA approval of AndroGel, manufactured by Unimed Pharmaceuticals. AndroGel, a treatment for men with low levels of testosterone, was featured in a cover story for Time in the summer of 2000.
Mike assisted with media relations activities for DuPont Pharmaceuticals’ Sustiva, an anti-HIV therapy. He conducted outreach to key media for DuPont for three medical meetings, including the U.S. Conference on AIDS, and planned press teleconferences announcing clinical trial results. He helped to plan and execute media relations activities for Sustiva at the time of the drug’s launch in the United States. Placements were secured in the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and CNN, among others.
Mike also researched information and wrote press materials for Bayer Corporation surrounding its celebration of the 100th anniversary of aspirin. The ensuing coverage resulted in more than 100 million media impressions. He was also involved in media relations efforts surrounding the FDA approval of Marion Merrell Dow’s Nicoderm, a transdermal nicotine patch that serves as a smoking cessation aid. He also wrote, produced and publicized four brochures on depressive and manic-depressive illness, underwritten by a grant from Abbott Laboratories. The brochures program won a Silver Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago.
