Partnering with CARE PH to expand cancer research | Takeda Philippines
Takeda partners with CARE PH to improve and expand cancer research
Biopharmaceutical leader Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. forged a partnership with Cancer Care Registry and Research Philippines Foundation (CARE PH) to widen cancer research and eventually provide a comprehensive range of support for Filipino cancer patients.
CARE PH is a non-government organization founded by Dr. Beatrice Tiangco in 2013 as a way to adhere to the Department of Health’s (DOH) policy on having a unified registry system in the country for non-communicable diseases such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease. One of their main advocacies is to create and populate a hospital-based registry to supplement existing population-based registries in Rizal and Metro Manila including all 109 tertiary hospitals across the country.
“This partnership with CARE PH ensures that we improve diagnostic rates for blood cancers such as myeloma, leukemia, and lymphoma, as well as other cancers, to increase the chances of prevention and cure in the Philippines. This will help Filipino cancer patients gain access to life-changing treatments,” shared Igor Gomes, Takeda’s Cluster Head and General Manager for Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Philippines.
Together for better oncology research and care
According to DOH, non-communicable diseases are the top causes of death worldwide.1 In the Philippines, cancer affects 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos, with four Filipinos dying of cancer every hour or 96 cancer patients every day2 ranking it fourth (4th) as the leading cause of death in the Philippines with 48,937 recorded cases from January to October 2021 according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).3
In addition, according to research by the Global Cancer Observatory (Globocan), over 4,000 new patients were diagnosed with lymphoma, making it one of the top 30 cancers in the country. With approximately 300,000 deaths from the disease recorded in 2020 alone, 2,500 of which occurred in the Philippines.
Through this partnership, Takeda will provide CARE PH a grant of Php 1,000,000 pesos with a goal of supporting the organization’s mission of “every preventable cancer averted, every screenable cancer detected, and every cancer patient counted.”
“We appreciate the liberty that Takeda has given to us in terms of how we can further improve our operations–from recruiting volunteers, hospitals, and towards initiating more cancer-related studies. Our main focus in this initiative are the Filipino cancer patients, and to be able to provide them with research on groundbreaking treatments,” said Dr. Beatrice Tiangco, Medical Oncologist and Epidemiologist and Founder of CARE PH
With a uniformed hospital registry, constructing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines will be made easier and data that has been properly stored can easily help determine if a secondary analysis is needed to provide patients with an effective approach on choosing treatments. This also allows CARE PH to donate computers in order to train more data encoders at various hospitals throughout the country and spearhead additional studies.
“This partnership with CARE PH is something that we are very enthusiastic about since we share the same value and commitment towards bringing better health and brighter future to cancer patients,” shared Loreann Villanueva, Country Manager, Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc.
Takeda Healthcare Philippines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on research and development. Its headquarters in Makati City house its employees, all of whom share the same passion, drive, and commitment to delivering life-changing treatments, sustainable patient access programs, and vaccines in oncology, gastroenterology, and rare diseases.
For more information on Takeda’s initiatives, visit www.takeda.com.
About Takeda
Takeda is a global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its research efforts on four therapeutic areas - Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience and Gastroenterology - to develop highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives.
About Takeda Philippines
Takeda Healthcare Philippines, Inc. (THPI) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Founded in 1968, THPI 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 and by strengthening the healthcare system guided by our commitment to Patients, our People and the Planet.