Millennium CEO On Curing Cancer

I was reading an article from PharmaVOICE (February 2012) on Dr. Deborah Dunshire who is the president and CEO of Millennium, the Takeda Oncology Company and thought I would pull a few things in here since I think the topic of “curing cancer” is very interesting.

“Our mission guides us to focus on translational medicine and personalized medicine, which means understanding the genetics of a particular patient’s cancer to guide the combination of therapies. It also drives us to prioritize our portfolio, and if a compound delivering a transformative benefit, we direct resources to another product that can.”

With early screening, more people living with cancer, and more open discussing of our healthcare, most people can now say they know one (or many) people with cancer so it’s an area that most of us can get very passionate about. Additionally, there is constantly new research around genetics in this area. And, from more of a cost perspective, it’s a huge driver of healthcare costs.

She goes on to describe their culture as one of intensity and caring (which sounds like the perfect healthcare environment). Compared to many of the stories you read today about traditional pharma having pipeline challenges and laying people off, this is a motivating interview about the opportunities to improve care for patients through personalized medicine and how bright the future is.