Year: 2015-16

Company: Takeda

Liaison(s): Sona Chandra Robert Jackson James Tiller

Takeda is a top-15 global pharmaceutical
company, headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Current
drug development specializes in metabolic and
cardiovascular diseases, respiratory and immunology,
central nervous system, oncology, and general medicine
products. In 2012, Takeda reported $16.2 billion in
revenue.
Beyond-the-pill aims to provide additional services
and devices – secondary to the therapy – to improve
overall patient outcomes. As the pharmaceutical
industry moves into the digital age, the Global
Medical Affairs (GMA) team at Takeda is interested in
beyond-the-pill solutions that can revolutionize drug
development as well as how healthcare is conducted.
Takeda seeks a technology solution that will disrupt or
otherwise improve the functioning of two prioritized
Cardiovascular Metabolic (CVM) disease states.
This project has been a unique opportunity to gain
a thorough understanding of how digital health is
evolving and growing at Takeda, the pharmaceutical
sector, and the healthcare industry as a whole.
The project began with a characterization of the patient
journey to understand the disease states and associated
unmet needs. This was followed by a landscape
assessment of the most cutting-edge technologies.
The team investigated 76 technologies, categorized
by function, user, and disease specificity. Based on
the research, the team presented each technology and
highlighted its strengths and weaknesses to Takeda.
The CVM team chose three solutions that best aligned
with Takeda’s beyond-the-pill initiative. The next step
was an in-depth analysis of each technology, including
company financial stability, technology feasibility, and
development timeline. Based on these findings, the
TMP team will propose a plan for implementation in
clinical trials and/or commercialization.