Biopharmaceutical leader Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. has forged a partnership with Cancer Care Registry and Research Philippines Foundation (CARE PH) to expand cancer research efforts with the ambition to provide a comprehensive range of support for Filipino cancer patients.
CARE PH is a non-government organization founded by Dr. Beatrice Tiangco in 2017 in response to the Department of Health’s (DOH) initiative on establishing a unified registry system in the country for non-communicable diseases such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease. One of their main goals is to create and populate a hospital-based cancer registry to supplement existing population-based registries in Rizal and Metro Manila.
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 screen-able cancer detected, and every cancer patient counted.”
“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 accelerated access to life-changing treatments,” shared Igor Gomes, Takeda’s Cluster Head and General Manager for Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore (VMAPS).
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 out of every 100,000 Filipinos, with four Filipinos dying of cancer every hour or 96 cancer patients every day[2]. As such, cancer ranks fourth (4th) as the leading cause of death in the Philippines with 48,937 recorded cases from January to October 2021 as stated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).[3]
Further, based on the 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. Approximately 300,000 deaths from this disease was recorded in 2020 alone, 2,500 of which occurred in the Philippines.
[1] https://vawc.doh.gov.ph/download/vawclawsandpolicies/ao2013-0005%20Unified%20Disease%20Registry%20System.pdf
[2]https://nnc.gov.ph/regional-offices/mindanao/region-xii-soccsksargen/7529-bird-s-eye-view-cancer-in-the-philippines
[3] https://psa.gov.ph/content/causes-deaths-philippines-preliminary-january-october-2021
