PatientsReflections from Core Members Following the 10^th Healthcare Café: A Platform for Dialogue with Patients and Their Families

I work in the purification of biologics that are candidates for development, as well as in their quality evaluation. As such, I rarely have opportunities in my day-to-day work to research diseases from a patient perspective or to speak directly with patients. That is precisely why I volunteered to join the organizing team for the Healthcare Café—to engage directly with patients and to help foster a culture among researchers of understanding patient perspectives from the earliest stages of drug discovery. I saw this as an important first step toward delivering valuable medicines more quickly.

When the team came together to decide on a theme, each member had different areas of interest. Precisely because of this diversity, I believe we were able to have meaningful discussions and arrive at a truly relevant theme. Once the plan was in place, each member took initiative, leveraging their own expertise and experience. It truly embodied the KABEGOE Principles of becoming a “super team with shared vision.” Harnessing our differences and working toward a common goal was a valuable learning experience.

As we prepared for the event, Mr. Higuchi and Ms. Hashimoto kindly gave us their time and shared their experiences in depth. What I came to realize was that understanding patient perspectives does more than deepen our knowledge of diseases and treatments. It is also the first step toward understanding the society and culture surrounding patients, and toward co-creating better healthcare experiences. While we are a company that delivers medicines, we also aspire to be a presence that supports patients throughout their lives and creates new value. Even though patients may be represented statistically as “n=1,” each has a deeply personal journey, filled with conflicts and anxieties about treatment, as well as hopes and wishes. Through this experience, I strongly feel the importance of sharing these insights with many of our colleagues, and I hope it will encourage everyone to once again reflect on the true meaning of creating medicines.

(Leader, Daisuke Shimmi, Core Research Laboratories Research Division)

I participated in this initiative because I wanted to help foster a patient-centric mindset in some way. The Healthcare Café reminded me that the pharmaceutical research and development we engage in brings hope to many, including patients, healthcare professionals, and caregivers. It reaffirmed my sense of fulfillment and the responsibility I feel toward my work. At the same time, I was strongly reminded that many challenges remain that cannot yet be addressed by medicine alone. We must not forget that there are patients for whom treatments are not applicable, those who continue to suffer without achieving meaningful outcomes, and those who have lost their lives. Through my interactions with everyone who contributed to this event, I have renewed my commitment to maintaining a mindset that values patients’ perspectives and voices, and to applying these insights to value creation as we advance pharmaceutical development.

(Hiroki Kitabayashi, Biometrics Department, Development Division)

I work on exploratory research on hematologic disorders. In this field, there are numerous symptomatic treatments that involve physical medical procedures, such as transfusions to replenish deficient blood components, plasma exchange to remove harmful blood components and replace them with healthy ones, and phlebotomy to reduce excess blood cells. While therapies aimed at curing these conditions are essential, symptomatic treatments that improve patients’ quality of life are also vital for those with hematologic diseases. I joined this initiative because I wanted to better incorporate patients’ voices into the drug discovery process. As I am in the early stages of my career, I felt it was important to cultivate a patient-centric mindset from the beginning. Meeting individuals who are desperately waiting for new treatments has strengthened my resolve to deliver life-changing therapies as quickly as possible. I was reminded that, just as the culture of blood donation has become well-established also in Japan and technologies like peripheral blood stem cell collection have advanced through apheresis, we can make significant progress by taking further steps in our work while always keeping patients at the center.
Pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and patient advocacy groups all have distinct roles in the healthcare system. By prioritizing the needs of those waiting for new treatments, fostering strong relationships, and fully committing to our individual responsibilities, we can create a significant positive impact. This experience reinforced that belief for me.

(Rintaro Baba, Innovation Center, Research Division)

I am not directly involved in research and development projects. I joined the organizing team to explore the significance of patient engagement activities and what that means for me. While I find it personally moving to listen to patients’ stories, I often wonder how those experiences can be translated into meaningful actions. I thought that by collaborating with patients to shape this initiative, I might start to find some answers. Through this initiative, I gained a tangible understanding that “living with and fighting a disease” is an experience that unfolds day by day. This realization prompted me to reflect not only on the course of a disease but also on how to improve patients’ day-to-day experiences. It has also raised new questions for me about my own role in this context. As for my original goal of understanding the meaning of patient engagement, I arrived at one simple answer: it is about “connection.” By connecting with patients, I believe those connections can extend to others around me, and I hope that in doing so, new possibilities will continue to emerge.

(Yoshimi Maekawa, Development Planning Department, Development Division)

It’s often said that exploratory research is far removed from patients. Having previously attended the Healthcare Café as an audience member, I found it a valuable opportunity to hear patients’ authentic voices firsthand. I believed that by joining the organizing team, I would be able to engage more deeply with patients and those around them, so I decided to take a step forward without hesitation and applied. Through the Healthcare Café, I was able to hear directly about the challenges patients truly face—insights that cannot be fully captured through written sources such as academic papers or clinical guidelines. In addition, we were able to share our perspectives among the core members and communicate them to patients, which made me feel that joining the organizing team was truly worthwhile. Collaboratively building something from the ground up with members from different departments was challenging, but it provided a unique sense of accomplishment that differs from my typical work.

(Yuhei Hotta, Research Planning Department, Research Division)