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#TheBigCatchUp: Takeda Healthcare Philippines joined WHO for World Immunization Week 2023; shared key updates on dengue vaccine

Health Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. (“Takeda Philippines”) joined the World Health Organization (WHO) for World Immunization Week 2023 heeding the latter's call for protecting millions of people around the world from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Takeda Philippines is proud to support WHO’s World Immunization Week for the second year in a row, with this year’s theme, #TheBigCatchUp. Working with partners and volunteers all around the world, WHO wants to ensure that people, especially children, are on track with their vaccinations, to restore essential immunization coverage to 2019 levels, and to strengthen vaccine deliveries through primary healthcare. World Immunization Week is a yearly campaign by the WHO aiming to bring awareness and reflect on the essential role vaccinations play in promoting global health.

“Immunizations are an essential asset for global public health and a basic health care right to help protect families and communities against infectious disease,” Shun Mori, Head of the Established Vaccine Program and Japan Business Coordinator, spoke about the importance of WHO’s World Immunization Week campaign.

“Takeda has supplied vaccines against burdensome diseases for the individuals of Japan, and we take pride in furthering this effort to continue bettering the health of people all around the world.” he added.

Unwavering Commitment to Vaccine Innovation & Vaccine for All

Takeda has dedicated more than 70 years in developing and providing vaccines in Japan, facing the most difficult problems in public health by developing innovative vaccines to prevent the spread of new diseases. Today, they have taken the challenge of introducing a new vaccine for one of the most challenging infectious diseases known to mankind, Dengue.

Takeda has recently developed a dengue vaccine aimed to curb the deadly dengue disease regardless of previous exposure. Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease common in many tropical countries such as the Philippines, and is listed by the WHO as one of the ten threats to global health. The vaccine is currently approved for use in Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand where dengue is endemic. The vaccine is also approved for use in the European Union.

“We look forward to bringing Takeda’s dengue vaccine to the Philippines in the near future. We will work with the government and private sectors to address the burden of the dengue disease which has long remained endemic for decades and is responsible for over 200,000 cases in 2022 alone,” shared Loreann Villanueva, Country Manager of Takeda Healthcare Philippines.

Takeda Healthcare Philippines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company.

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Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. Ranks 8 in the 2023 Philippines Best WorkplacesTM List

Takeda Healthcare Philippines Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Takeda Philippines recognized as one of the Philippines Best Workplaces TM 2023. (From L-R) Asian Institute of Management President and Dean Dr. Jikyeong Kang, Takeda Philippines Patient Value Access Lead Sheryll Corpuz, Takeda Philippines Country Manager Loreann Villanueva, Takeda Philippines HR Lead Arabella Benito, and Great Place to Work Philippines Managing Partner Antoinette Talosig

Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. (“Takeda Philippines”) has been recognized as one of the Philippines Best WorkplacesTM 2023. The award was given during the in-person recognition gala night recently held at Hilton Manila.

The biopharmaceutical leader ranked 8 in the small business category with 100% of its employees saying that the company is a great place to work for compared to 53% of employees at a typical global company. Employees cite that they are collectively proud to tell others they work in Takeda Philippines and that they feel physically safe to work there. They also think that management genuinely seeks and responds to suggestions and ideas, and that they are treated with respect regardless of position, age and gender.

Over the years, Takeda Philippines has invested in offering its employees a healthy and holistic working environment through efforts that allow them to collaborate with one another and grow through various training and development initiatives such as a Mentoring Program called Partnerships for Growth (PFG), Career development and Energy management programs, monthly TGIF sessions, workshops on diversity equity and inclusion and implementation of CSR programs.

The company also conducts onboarding programs for the new employees to drive an access to medicines mindset and to embed ‘Takeda-ism’ philosophy which incorporates the values of integrity, fairness, honesty and perseverance which are brought to life through actions based on Patient-Trust-Reputation-Business, in that order. Takeda Philippines empowers its employees to determine optimal solutions that will allow them to be productive and effective in their roles.

"I believe that one of the reasons we were recognized as a best workplace is because we cultivate a culture of growth and respect for one another, and passion in what we do to create an impact on the Filipino patients. We also provide our employees with a work environment where the job serves a deeper meaning and purpose," said Loreann Villanueva, Country Manager of Takeda Philippines. “We are proud that we have been recognized in two consecutive years by the Great Place to Work Institution. In 2022, we were certified Great Place To Work, and this year, we were gratified that we are certified Philippines Best WorkplacesTM. This continues to reinforce our commitment in bringing better health and brighter future to our people and patients.”

Takeda Philippines celebrates this achievement together with the other 34 companies who were recognized as the Philippines Best Workplaces for 2023. The Great Place To Work® Institute curates the list of best workplaces using a rigorous methodology and confidential employee feedback. By celebrating purpose-driven, people-first workplaces, Great Place To Work® Institute believes that work has the power to transform society, and aims to raise the standard of workplace culture—Onward For All Filipinos.

“We have a record-breaking year where we recognized over 150 Great Place To Work-CertifiedTM companies and 35 Philippines Best Workplaces in three categories,” said Antoniette Mendoza-Talosig, Managing Partner for Great Place To Work Philippines, and Principal Consultant for Great Place To Work ASEAN.

Takeda Philippines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company. Its headquarters in Makati City are home to Takeda Philippines’ employees who all share the same passion, drive, and commitment towards delivering life-transforming treatments, and sustainable patient access programs.

To know more about Takeda and its initiatives, visit www.takeda.com.

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Takeda Healthcare Philippines’ holds Access to Medicines Summit, strives for universal healthcare in the Philippines by 2030

Lifestyle Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Biopharmaceutical leader Takeda Healthcare Philippines has recently concluded its Access to Medicines Summit held in Makati, envisioning universal health coverage made accessible to all without creating any financial hardships by 2030.

With the overarching theme of “Onward to a Transformed Healthcare System by 2030”, the event was joined by stakeholders across the healthcare sector to share best practices, identify possible opportunities for collaboration, and fulfill their shared aspirations of improving the country’s access to healthcare and medicines.

Participants include representatives from the Department of Health, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of the Interior and Local Government, healthcare professional societies, patient organizations, and more. The summit is also in collaboration with RiseAboveNow Business Consulting as co-convenor and technical partner.

“The Access to Medicines Summit is an opportunity to bring together the different sectors of the healthcare industry for our unified vision of universal healthcare. Healthcare is one of the fundamental rights of every human being, but it is still incredibly inaccessible in many countries like the Philippines. Through this summit, we hope that everyone will be made more aware of the obstacles we face, as well as what we can do in our respective sectors and as an industry to help realize this goal of universal healthcare,” said Country Manager of Takeda Healthcare Philippines Loreann Villanueva.

Challenges of universal healthcare in the Philippines

Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep, senior research fellow from the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, introduced several challenges that prevented the realization of universal healthcare in the Philippines, with the biggest one being the procurement of these medicines.

He discussed that some medicines are not made equally available throughout the whole country due to high transaction costs, with certain regulatory, economic and political factors also potentially disincentivizing pharmaceutical companies from introducing new drugs in certain areas. Dr. Ulep also shared that problems in the supply chain lead to an untimely distribution of medicines in communities.

“The private sector has already perfected its system when it comes to supply chain even in far-flung areas, and I think that the public sector needs to adopt that through genuine private-public partnerships. We just need to sit together to design the appropriate incentive mechanisms,” he said.

Aside from these, Dr. Anna Guerrero, Director of the Pharmaceutical Division of the Department of Health, also brought up how the coronavirus pandemic uncovered the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of our current healthcare system before she introduced the Philippine Medicines Policy as the country’s roadmap.

“The Philippine Medicines Policy is not just learning from the barriers and challenges that we have had over the past decade on the access to medicines, but it’s also applying everything that we learned from the pandemic to create a more effective plan for the country. That’s why the policy has strategies that are targeted toward pandemic resiliency. We must make sure that the healthcare system is not just prepared to fulfill universal healthcare, but also prepared for any shocks that might come in the future,” she stated.

By 2030, the Philippine Medicine Policy’s vision is sustainable access to quality and affordable essential medicines and reduced out of pocket spending aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Care agenda.

(From left) Loreann Villanueva, Country Manager, Takeda Philippines; Michelle Erwee, Global Head of Access to Medicines, Takeda GEM BU; Igor Gomes, Cluster Head, Takeda VMAPS; and Katharina Geppert, Country Manager, Takeda Vietnam

Achieving access to healthcare

Takeda, together with its partners, underscored that achieving access to universal healthcare will require a collective collaboration, not only by the government but also the members of the health sector, including private institutions.

Likewise, Dr. Guerrero presented a framework to encapsulate the recommended measures in the health sector through an acronym A.C.C.E.S.S—Assurance of safety, efficacy and quality; Collaboration on availability and affordability; Commitment to the rational use of medicines; Effective networking, partnerships and good governance; Sustainable financing and resources; and Strengthening health systems.

The framework presents an improved healthcare system for the Philippines through the strengthening of medicinal regulatory systems, promotion of self-sufficiency through collaboration and local production, rational distribution and use of medicines, mainstreaming of traditional and complementary medicines, good governance and transparency among stakeholders, and a more aggressive research agenda to inform future policies and medicine acquisitions.

“Access is our aspiration—a joint aspiration of not only the government, but also the private sector, and the healthcare professionals—and I’m very happy that you all have embraced this. I hope you take it to heart because that is the goal of universal healthcare—that our patients will have access,” said Dr. Guerrero.

Apart from the series of talks, the summit conducted open forums that inspired shared commitment to improving access to medicines by striving for advancement in supply chain and research and development as well as produce innovations including affordable and accessible medicines needed by the public.

Coming from the insights and expertise of the participants of the AtM Summit 2022, a Catalogue of Partnership Opportunities will be produced. This catalogue will detail out possible collaborations among different health stakeholders, both from the public and private sectors. The catalogue will be published and shall be made accessible to all with the goal of improving access to medicines to every Filipino.

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#TheBigCatchUp: Takeda Healthcare Philippines joined WHO for World Immunization Week 2023; shared key updates on dengue vaccine

Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. Ranks 8 in the 2023 Philippines Best WorkplacesTM List

Takeda Healthcare Philippines’ holds Access to Medicines Summit, strives for universal healthcare in the Philippines by 2030

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