Survey reveals patient groups’ views on pharma industry
pharmafile | March 10, 2016 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | patientview
A new report, published by research and consultancy group PatientView, has revealed the attitude of more than 1,000 patient groups to the performance of the pharmaceutical industry.
The report, entitled ‘The corporate reputation of the pharma industry in 2015’ surveyed 1,075 patient groups from 72 countries regarding their views of the pharma industry as a whole, as well as the individual performance of 48 different pharma companies in six categories: patient-centricity; patient information; patient safety, useful products, transparency; and integrity.
The report defined the phrase ‘corporate reputation’ as the extent to which pharma companies are meeting the expectations of patients and patient groups. It was PatientView’s fifth on the subject, and provided a useful overview of the changing reputation of some of the industry’s leading players.
There was good news for the industry as a whole, with the number of respondents rating the corporate reputation of the pharma sector favourably at its highest level since PatientView’s first survey in 2011. 44.7% of patient groups in 2015 said they believed the corporate reputation of the industry is ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, compared to 42% in 2011. This ranking of reputation was at its lowest in 2012, when the figure was 34.0%. This time around, 28% of respondent patient groups believed the industry’s corporate reputation improved during the year.
A key driver of the positive feedback seen in 2015 was the perception of the industry’s ability to deliver products of high value to patients. As many as 72% of the 1,075 patient groups responding to the 2015 ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey stated that the pharma industry as a whole was “excellent” or “good” during the year at producing high-quality products. Last year also saw the highest number of new drug approved by the FDA for several years, supporting the perception of a strong level of innovation in drug development.
However, patient groups continue to retain reservations about pharma – in particular, about the industry’s pricing practices. Only 15% of the patient groups responding to the 2015 survey stated that pharma was “excellent” or “good” at having fair pricing policies (and at not making excessive profits). As many as 45% of 2015’s respondent patient groups rated pharma as ‘poor’ at this activity.
The patient groups most aggrieved about pharma’s pricing are those specialising in hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and rare diseases. In country terms, the most dissatisfied were patient groups in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA.
Certain specific companies also saw gains and declines in how they are perceived by patient groups. ViiV Healthcare – the HIV specialist company co-owned by GSK, Pfizer and Shionogi – again took the top spot, with AbbVie remaining a close second, retaining its position from the previous year.
Gains were enjoyed by Denmark’s Lundbeck in third, up two places from 2014, and Janssen, up four places to fourth. Novo Nordisk fell to fifth, down three places from 2014. Gilead Sciences was amongst those gaining the most ground; up 8 places from 2014 to sixth.
Joel Levy
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