The Say Communications Award for Excellence in Integrated Product/Brand Communications

Summary of work

When Entyvio (vedolizumab) received marketing authorisation in May 2014, Takeda had no heritage or relationships in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The challenge was to educate the clinical community on Entyvio’s unique gut-selective mode of action (MoA) and benefit/risk profile.

Takeda’s leadership team quickly established relationships with leading gastroenterologists to understand the needs of the IBD community, which highlighted the need for a series of promotional medical educational meetings with a focus on peer-to-peer exchange of best practice.

Takeda collaborated with 38 IBD thought-leaders to rapidly increase understanding of Entyvio’s clinical data, unique MoA and NICE reimbursement positioning to build confidence for early use in the treatment pathway where patient benefit is greatest. Promotional meetings reached 235 attendees.

A commissioning toolkit and an advertorial supplement in the Health Service Journalwere also developed. These focused on peer-to-peer best practice-sharing to help clinicians and commissioners work together to navigate local access barriers for new treatments in IBD.

The collaborative approach built relationships throughout the IBD community. As a result, clinical teams understood which patients were most likely to benefit from Entyvio and they now had the confidence to prescribe it.

Judges' comments

A refreshingly strong set of objectives for each stakeholder group, this programme incorporated a lot of activities and a high level of physician interaction. The team behind the work clearly put a lot of effort into it, and their service redesign piece and commissioning tool kit were inventive.