Unlocking the Potential in CIDP: A Call to Innovation, Collaboration and Follow-through

Imagine waking one day with a tingling sensation in your fingers or toes. You try to brush it off, but the tingling progresses to numbness, and you soon find it takes more effort to do tasks that were once second-nature, like buttoning a shirt or pouring your morning coffee.

This can be the reality for people living with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or #CIDP, a rare disease that affects the peripheral nerves and leads to muscle weakness. [1]

While individual experiences with CIDP vary widely, the journey to diagnosis can be a complicated and lengthy process since symptoms may overlap with other neuromuscular conditions, such as multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). [2,3] If left untreated, the condition can cause permanent disability, underscoring the importance of early and accurate diagnosis. [4] There are several guidelines-based treatment options that are considered the standard of care for CIDP – immunoglobulins (a type of plasma-derived therapy), corticosteroids, and plasmapheresis. It’s important to equip patients with the educational tools and resources to guide informed conversations with a health care provider. [1,4] Additionally, non-medication management options may include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation and psychological and community support. [5]

Since joining Takeda nearly 10 years ago and in my current role of senior vice president and head of the U.S. Plasma-Derived Therapies (PDT) Business Unit, I’ve seen firsthand how a culture of curiosity fuels innovation – especially in a unique and growing sector like PDTs. Our history in the PDT space only challenges us to continue to embrace innovation, question the status quo and forge new paths toward improving outcomes for people who may depend on plasma-derived therapies.

By listening to patients, we’re identifying meaningful aspects to each individual’s experience – from infusion times, to how treatment is administered, to enhancing our patient support programs so more people can access these medicines.

Our work at Takeda revolves around making more treatments available to more patients. We do this by ensuring quality, safety and sustainability of our plasma-derived therapies and listening to and learning from the CIDP community to better understand the journey from diagnosis to treatment. Visit www.KnowingPN.com/CIDP to learn more about CIDP and hear directly from people living with this condition.

A special shout out and thank you to infusion nurses, advocates, pharmacists, neurologists, care partners and patient organizations for all that you do in support of the CIDP community!

References

1. Brun S, de Sèze J, Muller S. Immuno. 2022;2(1):118-131.

2. Chaudhary, U.J., Rajabally, Y.A. J Neurol. 2021;268(4):1366-1373.

3. Eftimov F, Lucke IM, Querol LA, et al. Brain. 2020;12(11):3214-3224.

4. Bunschoten C, Jacobs BC, Van den Bergh PYK, et al. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18:784-794.

5. Van den Bergh PYK, van Doorn PA, Hadden RDM, et al. J Peripher Nerv Syst. 2021;26(3):242–268.