The unspoken struggle of many people living with cancer lies in the financial burdens they face and the tough choices they must make for themselves and their loved ones as a result.

"Plants grow better when they've been repotted." I often reflect on the power of this metaphor when I think about our approach to growing our pipeline and fostering innovation at Takeda.

We sat down with Scott Campbell and Lisa Cruz, Head and Associate Director of Patient Advocacy & Engagement (PA&E), respectively, to learn more about patient advocacy within the Takeda Oncology Business Unit (OBU) and the recently launched Improving Health Equity in Cancer: A Community Grant Program.

As I reflect on this last fiscal year and beyond, I feel we are better positioned than ever in our aspiration to cure cancer. We operate in a way that starts and ends with patients and are committed to working closely with others that share our passion. Read more about the uniquely designed team we've built to help us achieve our goal.

The field of oncology moves fast. In just a few decades, groundbreaking discoveries have revolutionized how we approach cancer treatment and inspired countless developments. However, we as an industry have to close the gap between scientific innovation and patient access to make a real difference for people living with cancer.

An estimated 235,760 people living in the United States were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 2021.¹ A lung cancer diagnosis is life-altering, and while we have made great strides in accurate diagnosis and treatment, there is still work to be done to ensure patients with lung cancer feel supported and armed with the information and resources they need to best manage this incredibly challenging journey.

Working in the healthcare industry across patient advocacy, value, access, policy and law for more than 30 years, I’ve been inspired by the tremendous progress we’ve made in developing novel treatments for patients.

Health inequity has been a longstanding global dilemma – one that I personally feel compelled to help address, especially in oncology.

In recent years, we’ve seen remarkable progress in combatting devastating cancers, with the rise of immunotherapies across a breadth of therapeutic modalities, from antibody-based immunomodulators to cell-based therapies to other emerging technologies. And yet, while there are more than 30 approved immunotherapies on the market today, only about 15-20% of patients respond to available treatments, demonstrating a necessity for more effective and tolerable options.

Over the past two decades, advancements in the industry have shifted how we diagnose, classify and ultimately treat certain cancers according to an individual’s molecular profile – a practice known as precision medicine. What does this transformative approach, and the diagnostics needed to achieve it, mean for the oncology industry, and most importantly, for patients with cancer? What gaps still remain, and how can stakeholders come together to address them?

Health economics (HE) analyzes the costs and consequences of healthcare interventions to evaluate their effects on patient-related clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes.
At Takeda, we are committed to advancing the principles and practice of HE by collaborating with strategic partners to identify innovative and bold solutions that help ensure patients have access to our medicines.