In oncology care, clinical success is defined primarily by time: months or years of survival. Yet for patients living with metastatic cancers, the true value of time – and how it is lived – becomes paramount, requiring treatment decisions that balance extending life while aiming to preserve its quality.
This was a topic in one of our recent symposia on metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), where we explored how integrating patients’ priorities with traditional clinical endpoints can guide care across the treatment journey.
The session reaffirmed what patients consistently tell us: they want their care teams to consider clinical measures alongside the aspects of life that matter most to them, including side-effect management, physical well-being, quality of life and time with loved ones.
The insights are clear: to truly advance oncology care, we must shift from a disease-centric to a person-centric approach. This means involving patients and caregivers at every step – from shared decision-making to trial design and patient-generated data. By placing patients’ needs and values at the heart of these decisions, we can better align treatment strategies with meaningful outcomes for each individual.
Turning patient insights into action
One individual living with mCRC captured it perfectly: “Having support, feeling listened to and being involved in decision-making during your treatment journey has a huge impact.”
Making the shift to a person-centric approach requires integrating shared decision-making into everyday practice – something I have championed for years. Seeing it take centre stage in our work at Takeda makes me incredibly proud.
One endeavour that has brought this to life is the Not All Lung Cancers Are the Same campaign, launched by ALK Positive Europe and supported by Takeda. This campaign evolved from patient insights: advocates and people affected by the disease told us they need knowledge and confidence to navigate complex decisions relating to their care. An expert Steering Committee of advocates and HCPs across Europe was then involved in developing resources to help patients better understand biomarker testing and support them in having informed conversations with their care team.
These materials empower patients to make choices aligned with their goals and tailored to their specific type of lung cancer.
Translating voices into data-driven insight
The individual stories I’ve heard over the years – from patients, caregivers, clinicians and researchers – have always left an impact on me. At the same time, I’m mindful that to meaningfully reshape clinical practice, we need a scientific approach that builds on these experiences – systematically translating patient voices into measurable, statistically meaningful and actionable insights.
That means leveraging real-world evidence and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to understand needs at scale. Our support of the H2O Insight Centre, a public dashboard enabling patients to report PROs securely, is one example. With patient consent, this data can be shared for research, generating real-world evidence that reflects patient experiences and drives more patient-centric decisions.
Another example is an oncology trial at Takeda, where PROs were first and fully integrated from the outset. Patients helped shape which outcomes were measured, ensuring their desired endpoints are captured in our evidence generation.
This approach truly embodies our core values of ‘PTRB’ – Patient-Trust-Reputation-Business – and is becoming the blueprint for smarter, data-driven trials at Takeda.
Delivering our vision: data-driven, patient-first
As we expand in solid tumours and haematology, our goal is to lead in integrating these perspectives as a data-driven, patient-first organisation. Today, that means designing smarter trials, making shared decision-making standard practice and ensuring 360-degree support is considered from the outset.
By putting data-driven patient insights at the heart of our strategies, we ensure they guide every decision and shape every process at Takeda.
In doing so, we strive in delivering care that is not only clinically effective but also deeply aligned with what matters most to patients and their families – shaping the future of cancer care, together.
By Annarita Egidi, Head of Oncology, Europe and Canada, at Takeda Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
References available upon request. Written and sponsored by Takeda. C-ANPROM/EUC/NON/0055
