Biopharmaceutical
leader Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. (“Takeda
Philippines”), together with its partners, recently released a Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities as part
of its commitment to support the government in strengthening the Philippine
healthcare system. Developed with insights and expertise gathered from their
Access to Medicines summit held last October 11-12, 2022, in Manila,
Philippines, the catalogue aims to provide various stakeholders ideas on
possible collaborations between public and private entities, and opportunities
to improve access to medicines for Filipinos.
The Access to
Medicines Summit 2022 themed "Onward to a Transformed Healthcare System by
2030," brought together a diverse range of stakeholders guided by the
vision for a sustained access to quality and affordable medicines and vaccines
and reduced out-of-pocket health spending aligned with the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 3.8 and the Universal Healthcare
(UHC) Act.
Based on data from
state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in 2022,
Filipinos still shoulder out-of-pocket expenditure ranging from 34 to 44.7
percent1. The elderly, women,
rural and poor Filipinos are more likely to spend more.
"The Catalogue
of Partnership Opportunities is an invaluable resource for stakeholders from
different sectors, advocating for collaboration and innovation,” Loreann
Villanueva, Country Manager of Takeda Healthcare Philippines shared. “At Takeda
Healthcare Philippines, we believe in the power of partnerships to improve
access to medicines and enhance the overall health and well-being of Filipinos.
Ensuring that quality healthcare services reach every individual in the country
requires collective efforts from the public and private sectors. In the area of
cancer management, for example, we have made efforts to implement unique
patient assistance programs that consider the patient’s capacity to pay, in
collaboration with their healthcare providers. This allows us to provide
Filipino patients with broader access to innovative therapies for blood cancers
such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma."
The Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities
encapsulates the combined aspirations, success stories and insights shared by
the attendees of the summit. It serves as a comprehensive resource that
captures the ideas of stakeholders who were physically present at the event, as
well as those whose perspectives were represented by their organizations.
“The health of our
country is not just about being free of certain illnesses alone, but it’s about
total health services and wellness, and improved quality of life,” Secretary
Benjamin Abalos Jr. of the Department of Interior and Local Government shared.
Abalos highlighted the importance of working with the Local Government Units to
improve access to medicines and achieve universal healthcare in the country.
“This partnership
helps to identify major and critical barriers to medicine access,” Val Ulep,
Senior Research Fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies
(PIDS) said. “Through this collaboration, we are also able to come up with
innovative ways on how to overcome these setbacks.”
The catalogue
identified eight key areas for partnership opportunities: access programs,
capacity building, data management, digitalization, health information
management and communication, policy and governance, supply chain management,
and sustainable health financing.
“The goal is to
make the catalogue accessible to all and raise awareness about the multitude of
partnership opportunities available to drive the transformation of the
Philippine healthcare system by 2030. We believe that the best way to ensure
patients have timely access to medicines is by building trusted, effective and
lasting local partnerships. By strengthening health systems together, we can
better support the patient journey through health promotion and prevention,
diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care,” added Villanueva.
While current
health-related interventions and programs are in place, the catalogue
highlights the untapped potential for collaboration that can further enhance
access to medicines and other health technologies. Anchored by Takeda’s
patient-first approach with their partners collectively, they aspire to combine
resources, expertise, responsibilities, leadership, and coordination to address
access barriers and strengthen local standards of care.
The Access to
Medicines Summit 2022 participants includes representatives from the Department
of Health, Department of Trade, and Industry, Department of the Interior and
Local Government, healthcare professional societies, patient organizations,
academia, financing institutions, NGOs and more. The summit is also in
collaboration with RiseAboveNow Business Consulting as co-convenor and
technical partner.
Read the Access to Medicines White Paper to learn more
about the multi-stakeholder partnership and how it aims to improve medicine
access in the Philippines.
About Takeda
Takeda
is focused on creating better health for people and a brighter future for the
world. We aim to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments in our core
therapeutic and business areas, including gastrointestinal and inflammation,
rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology, neuroscience and vaccines.
Together with our partners, we aim to improve the patient experience and
advance a new frontier of treatment options through our dynamic and diverse
pipeline. As a leading values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company
headquartered in Japan, we are guided by our commitment to patients, our people
and the planet. Our employees in approximately 80 countries and regions are
driven by our purpose and are grounded in the values that have defined us for
more than two centuries.
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.
For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.
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