Takeda’s Commitment to Trial Representation is Shaping the Future of Clinical Research

For Takeda’s Angel Akinbinu, director of trial equity and representation, clinical trial representation is a personal issue that traces back to her childhood. When she was young and her sister had a rare disease, medical professionals never told her family about clinical research related to the condition.

“We never knew it was even an option,” Akinbinu told BioSpace.

Akinbinu had a similar experience last year. Medical professionals didn’t mention clinical research to her family after diagnosing her father with late-stage pancreatic cancer. She was the one who raised the issue and looked for clinical trials. Unfortunately, none fit and he quickly passed away.

“I was disappointed that no one had offered that when there’s so much research that needs to be done on a disease like pancreatic cancer,” Akinbinu said.

With representation an increasingly personal issue for her, it’s fitting that Akinbinu now leads Takeda’s trial equity efforts. Her team members are responsible for fostering partnerships and implementing strategies focused on awareness, education and access that support diversity, equity, inclusion and representation of patients in the company’s clinical research. They help connect people who have diseases—regardless of factors such as social position, age, gender, race and ethnicity—with information about clinical trials through strategies focused on education, access and awareness.

That work ties not only to the company’s purpose to create better health for people and a brighter future for the world but also to its values of integrity, fairness, honesty and perseverance. Those values are one reason Jonathan Butko was excited to work at Takeda. The patient recruitment and retention creative lead told BioSpace that those types of values aren’t always at the forefront for employers.

Edited with Google AI

“A lot of times, it’s all the business stuff, which obviously is important, but I do enjoy the fact that Takeda makes sure that as we approach projects, we run what we’re doing through these value filters,” said Butko, who develops branding, messaging and creative for clinical trial recruitment and retention.

Regarding how Takeda’s values affect his work specifically, Butko noted that they drive decision-making.

“As we start thinking about our communications platform, programs and strategies, we make sure that that authenticity, that tone, that integrity, that fairness, that honesty comes through not only in what we’re communicating but how we’re communicating it,” he said.

Akinbinu shared how integrity, in particular, shows up in Takeda’s representation work. Her team educates people about clinical trials, while other Takeda teams are responsible for sharing the data and insights gathered from such trials with the patient and physician communities.

“There’s this full continuum, if you will, of information,” she said.

To illustrate the importance of representation, Akinbinu said she often shares an example of a drug that was studied on different age groups and found to cause severe dehydration in older people. Had the drug been tested only on those ages 18 to 65, she noted, older patients could have ended up in the hospital.

Despite situations like that, Akinbinu shared, clinical trials haven’t always been representative. She noted that some drugs have been put on the market without being studied in key patient populations.

Butko agreed that for too long, some populations haven’t had adequate representation in clinical trials. However, he said, trials that are more representative of the patient population can ensure that drugs are safe and effective on a larger scale.

At Takeda, clinical trial representation work involves providing education about and access to specific trials but starts with building awareness about clinical research, according to Akinbinu. She said it’s also important to be trustworthy and have integrity throughout the communication process, qualities that are part of Takeda’s DNA and reflected through the company’s presence and actions at community events. She noted that those events go beyond health fairs, which not everyone who might participate in clinical trials attends, to include nonhealthcare spaces such as places of worship or social clubs.

“We’re trying to move away from waiting for people to seek out the information to us taking the information to them wherever they are,” Akinbinu said. “It’s showing up in the places that people are essentially living their lives.”

Butko is assessing what that looks like for the younger generation, which he noted will become the clinical trial patients of the future. He said his team is studying how young people communicate with each other on the street so it can determine tactics that drive engagement while reinforcing the authenticity of Takeda’s values. Butko said that approach is important for this age group, which can see through corporate marketing lingo.

“It’s about keeping that honest voice and presenting the information in a way that is comfortable and familiar to each individual population,” he added.

When raising awareness about clinical research, Akinbinu explained that the discussion begins with a study-agnostic, disease-agnostic approach that breaks down jargon that’s second nature to pharma professionals but not to the general population. Butko noted that Takeda’s WeConnect website is a helpful tool in this effort, as it uses a friendly, down-to-earth, conversational tone to turn complex ideas into succinct, understandable content while also reinforcing Takeda’s values.

Clinical trial representation work has proved rewarding for Akinbinu and Butko. Butko has found it incredible to think about how trial design can contribute to medications being considered safe and effective for more people. Akinbinu appreciates being able to provide critical information about studies that could benefit people now or in the future.

“Not everyone that you talk to about clinical trials is going to be in one, but it’s the opportunity to plant the seed,” she said. “And maybe it’s not for you, maybe it’s for a family member or for a friend.”

For example, she said, “Maybe two years from now, your father gets diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office, you think about that conversation you had with us about clinical trials being an option, and you say, ‘Hey, doctor, what about a clinical trial for my father?’ It’s something you might not have ever thought about. I think there’s just so much opportunity when you just provide that education, and to me, that’s what it’s all about.”

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This article was written in partnership with Takeda.