What's It Like Being a Myeloma Patient? Takeda Oncology Wins App Award.

Posted on: Feb 05, 2020

It's not easy to know what it is really like to be a myeloma patient. Takeda Oncology and Snow Companies wanted their employees to know what it feels like to live with a myeloma diagnosis in a more personal way, so they built an app called “Being Patient: Multiple Myeloma." The app gives a greater sense of the emotional, financial, psychosocial and physical issues that patients deal with every day.

The app won a Gold award for PM360's annual Pharma Choice Awards. PM360 is a health magazine which gives the annual award for the best healthcare campaigns in a range of categories.

Takeda's commitment to patients is reflected in their patient advocacy programs, which seeks to obtain patient input at every stage of drug development. Their priorities of 1) Putting the Patient First, 2) Building Trust with Society, 3) Reinforcing their Reputation and 4) Developing their Business are reflected in the way in which they go about interacting with patients.

Several myeloma advocates participated in the project to share the realities of life with myeloma starting with diagnosis and going through treatment, helping the user feel what it is like dealing with side effects like peripheral neuropathy and anemia and the stem cell transplant process. Takeda stated:

“This transformative experience serves as a driving force and reminder that patients remain at the core of all business decisions, no matter what role you serve at Takeda.”

As a myeloma patient advocate, it's been my experience to see Takeda walk the talk of putting patients first, and we appreciate their commitment and effort in addition to so many others who are striving to lengthen life and find a cure for multiple myeloma.

Jennifer Ahlstrom

Myeloma survivor, patient advocate, wife, mom of 6. Believer that patients can contribute to cures by joining HealthTree Cure Hub and joining clinical research. Founder and CEO of HealthTree Foundation.