In February this year, BENEO’s team for the pharmaceutical excipient galenIQ™ launched an exciting new format: a pharmaceutical excipients podcast, “Excipient Talk – brought to you by galenIQ”. In this series, BENEO’s Head of Sales, Dr. Michael Black, talks to experts in the excipient industry about their experiences with galenIQ™ in pharmaceutical applications.

But how does a podcast like this come to life? What challenges arose along the way from the initial idea to the final launch? We spoke with Michael about his motivation, the development process, and the future plans for Excipient Talk.

From Concept to the First Pharmaceutical Excipients Podcast Episode

It all started over a year ago with a simple idea. Michael had already been publishing short videos on LinkedIn, which gained increasing recognition. The next logical step was to expand this format into a longer, more interactive form.

“When I travel for business, I enjoy listening to and watching podcasts on various topics. They are a great way to explore new subjects in a flexible and engaging manner,” Michael explains. “That’s when I thought a podcast would be an ideal platform to inform a broader audience about the diverse properties of galenIQ™.”

The team recorded the first test episodes in the summer of 2024. Fortunately, BENEO’s marketing department had already gathered the necessary technology, which made the initial steps much easier. Alongside continuously improving the filming and editing process, strategic decisions had to be made: On which platforms should the podcast be published? In what format should the content be presented?

“Eventually, we decided on short interviews to be published on YouTube and our own website,” Michael explains. “While I focused on content, our team took care of the technical execution.” Marketing colleagues supported for uploading the episodes and promoting them on LinkedIn, ensuring greater visibility.

Another crucial aspect was branding. Together with an agency, the team developed a distinctive logo and selected a professional intro and outro for the videos.

Challenges and Future Plans

Of course, not everything went smoothly. Keeping the project running alongside daily business operations turned out to be more challenging than expected. “We are a global sales team, and our priority is supplying galenIQ™ and supporting our customers and sales partners. Therefore, podcast preparations sometimes take a back seat,” Michael admits.

But the vision is clear: Excipient Talk aims to provide valuable content and consolidate expertise in the excipient industry. “A lot of scientific information on galenIQ™ is spread across various journals and research papers. Our goal is to bring this knowledge together and present it in a structured way through our pharmaceutical excipients podcast, ensuring easy access to expert insights.” he explains.

And the future plans? “We have an extensive list of exciting topics such as wet granulation, probiotics, and film-coating. Additionally, we want to invite more experts from research and development as guests,” Michael reveals.

To increase awareness of the podcast, BENEO is focusing on targeted promotion through its corporate website and LinkedIn. Furthermore, the plan is to release a new episode every month.

The first episode of Excipient Talk – brought to you by galenIQ is already online. Stay tuned for more exciting insights into the world of pharmaceutical excipients!