Takeda's Access to Medicines : Patient Assistance Program
Takeda Healthcare Philippines, Inc.
Project Commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
INTRODUCTION
The Vision of “Takeda’s Access To Medicines: Patient Assitance Program” (AtM Program) is to broaden access to life-changing medicines and vaccines in underserved communities with an integrated, sustainable approach that mobilizes the collective efforts of all parties involved.Takeda focuses on diseases with the highest unmet need to bring its innovative medicines of the highest quality to the patients that need them. In the Philippines, these include patients with cancer who have very limited support coming from the government and other public healthcare institutions. Through its “AtM Program” which utilizes a unique & innovation-based assessment scheme, Takeda has managed to provide financial assistance to more than 600 patients nationwide, helping them complete their treatment regardless of their capacity to pay.
This project’s approach is holistic & involves multi-stakeholder collaboration to address the barriers and opportunities throughout the patient’s journey. As such, the “AtM Program” addresses pain points and drives greater disease awareness, timely & accurate diagnosis, and provides appropriate treatment, support, and care for Filipino patients.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
Takeda’s value-based approach to healthcare begins with how the growth and launch products are strategically priced through tiered pricing. Takeda’s “AtM Program” utilizes an innovative affordability framework that enables access to innovative medicines regardless of the patient’s socioeconomic class. This assessment defines a financial scheme that is tailor-fit based on each patient’s capacity to pay and, thus, is unique from the traditional schemes of other pharmaceutical companies in the Philippines.The company’s patient journey framework was enhanced to drive a holistic approach that addressed the multi-faceted challenges of patients in terms of awareness, diagnosis, and patient support. To address the issue of delayed disease diagnosis among patients, Takeda built capacity among pathologists through a series of workshops to increase their ability in ensuring confirmatory diagnosis for patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma. Takeda also partnered with the Philippine Cancer Society, PHAP Cares, the Philippine General Hospitals, and the PGH Medical Foundation to address the challenges of limited access to cancer screening.
Takeda ethically engages all of its stakeholders including healthcare professionals, allied healthcare partners, patient groups, industry partners, and policy-makers to help strengthen these healthcare initiatives. The company is also committed to having more innovative treatments for cancer and rare diseases for 2023 and beyond, expanding access to innovative medicines to more Filipino patients.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
Among the milestones of the “AtM Program” are that more than 616 patients had access to innovative, life-transforming medicines as Takeda provided more than PHP1.7 billion as financial support (based on the Pilipinas Shell Foundation report). By allowing patients to continue with their treatment for the full duration of its course, this increases their chances of survival and ensures them a better quality of life, thus, allowing them to continue being productive members of the Philippines society.Takeda continues to partner with medical experts and societies in building awareness and capacity for early diagnosis and treatment of several disease areas including oncology and rare disease. To date more than 1700 pathologists, 6,997 oncology and 5683 endoscopy nurses, 4 medical societies, 7 non government and patient organizations have participated and partnered with THPI in these endeavors.
Takeda also donated a grant of PHP1 million to the Cancer Care Registry and Research Philippines Foundation (CARE PH) to expand its cancer registry and research. At the AtM Summit in October 2022, 137 stakeholders gathered in the country including healthcare professionals, policymakers, government officials, patient groups, and industry partners to convene on supporting access for more patients in the Philippines.
FUTURE DIRECTION
Takeda would like to set apart its approach to healthcare access, that it does not start and stop with the product. The company takes a broad and holistic whole-of-patient-journey view while ensuring an understanding of the dynamics of the market, tailoring its strategy to each patient’s specific needs. It is also why Takeda places such importance on forging the right partnerships.While the company works collaboratively on strengthening healthcare systems, Takeda also remains committed to addressing the more pressing hurdles of affordability for patients in the shorter term including the PAP (Patients Assistance Program), this has been invaluable in providing access to medicines for patients with serious conditions who otherwise would not have been able to afford treatment.
Moving forward, Takeda is committed to having more innovative treatments for cancer, rare diseases, and vaccines for 2023 while also going beyond to expand the 3-folds access to innovative medicines for more Filipino patients.
Takeda Healthcare Philippines, Inc. (Takeda) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Founded in 1968, Takeda aims to
broaden patient access to treatment across the country through sustainable
access programs enabling affordable and integrated access solutions for
disease areas such as oncology, gastroenterology, rare diseases & vaccines.
This is done by strengthening the healthcare system guided by the company’s
commitment to its patients, its people, and the planet.
