PatientView press release: US patient groups mark much of big pharma down in preference for biotech and medium-sized companies No Images? Click here US patient groups mark much of big pharma down in preference for biotech and medium-sized companiesEmbargoed publication date: Friday, 31st May 2019 6AM ETPress release based on the results of a new report: 'The Corporate Reputation of Pharma, 2018—the Perspective of US Patient Groups'
The 2018 Corporate-Reputation survey, undertaken between November 2018-February 2019, was answered by senior executives from the patient groups (on behalf of their groups). Each patient group carries the same weight in the results (irrespective of whether the patient group is large, medium, or small in size). The 30 pharma companies reviewed for their corporate reputation in the 2018 US study: AbbVie I Acorda I Allergan I Amgen I Astellas I AstraZeneca I Bayer I Biogen I Boehringer Ingelheim I Bristol-Myers Squibb I Celgene I Daiichi Sankyo I Eisai I Eli Lilly (Lilly) I Gilead I GSK I Janssen I Lundbeck I Merck & Co I Merck KGaA (EMD Serono in the US) I Novartis I Novo Nordisk I Otsuka I Pfizer I Roche (Genentech in the US) I Sanofi I Takeda (including its 2018-2019 acquisition, Shire) I Teva I UCB I Vertex. Companies are assessed for 12 indicators of corporate reputation [see Table 1, below]. US patient groups are increasingly positive about pharma’s corporate reputation―but even more so about that of biotechChart 1. The corporate reputation of the pharmaceutical industry, 2013-2018 (percentage of respondent US patient groups stating “Excellent” or “Good”)
US patient groups took a more positive view of the corporate reputation of the pharma industry (as a whole) in 2018 than in 2017—with 44% of 2018’s respondent US patient groups stating that the industry had an “Excellent” or “Good” corporate reputation (32% said the same in 2017). For the six years since PatientView has analysed the pharma industry’s corporate reputation in the US (from the perspective of US patient groups), that overall corporate reputation has remained consistently lower than the corporate reputation of the pharma industry worldwide (as assessed by patient groups worldwide)―until 2018. During 2018, for the first time, the corporate reputation of the pharma industry in the US outperformed that of pharma in the rest of the world (albeit by only a small margin) [see chart 2, below]. Chart 2. 2013-2018: The corporate reputation of the PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY, from the perspective of US patient groups [137 in 2018], compared with pharma’s corporate reputation, from the perspective of patient groups worldwide [1,500 in 2018]. Percentage of respondents stating “Excellent” or “Good.” Chart 3. 2013-2018: The corporate reputation of the BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY, from the perspective of US patient groups [137 in 2018], compared with biotech’s corporate reputation, from the perspective of patient groups worldwide [1,500 in 2018]. Percentage of respondents stating “Excellent” or “Good.” Biotech does even better among US patient groups. Over the past six years, the biotechnology industry has consistently held a higher corporate reputation among US patient groups than the pharma industry (for example, in 2018, 53% of respondent US patient groups said that biotech had an an “Excellent” or “Good” corporate reputation, compared with 44% saying the same about pharma). Biotech’s corporate reputation, from the viewpoint of US patient groups, is also above that of the corporate reputation of the biotech industry globally, as assessed by patient groups worldwide [see Chart 3]. A number of comments made to the 2018 Corporate-Reputation survey by respondent US patient groups indicate an increasing bias against ‘big pharma’, in favour of more medium-sized companies—including biotech. For example ... International US patient group, respiratory conditions: "Some companies are better than others, and smaller biotechs seem to be better at it than larger companies." National US patient group, respiratory conditions: "Pharma companies vary, so my negative comments are not meant to be universal. We have had very positive interaction with smaller companies, for example." Why do US patient groups mark down big pharma?The November 2018-February 2019 Corporate-Reputation survey of patient groups was conducted while hearings on drug pricing were being carried out by the US House and Senate. Major pharma companies gave evidence before the various committees (and even key patient groups appeared). The proceedings were closely followed by the media. Companies in the spotlight tended to find that their corporate reputation declined among US patient groups answering the 2018 survey (though the corporate reputation of four of the big companies—Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Roche/Genentech—was not so affected). Chart 4. 2013-2018: The percentage of US patient groups stating that the pharmaceutical industry was “Excellent” or “Good” at having fair pricing policies Only 8% of 2018’s 137 respondent US patient groups thought the pharma industry “Excellent” or “Good” at having fair pricing policies (the equivalent worldwide figure was, at 9%, about the same). Who topped the corporate-reputation ranks in the USA in 2018? Ranking is measured by patient groups familiar with a company (and includes a company's patient-group partners). Such patient groups provide feedback on the public-domain persona of the companies.
Some companies witnessed significant rises up the US rankings in 2018. Acorda, for instance, jumped 15 places (from overall 21st in 2017, to 6th in 2018). Similarly, Novo Nordisk increased its ranking by 14 places (from overall 25th in 2017 to 11th in 2018). Such results reinforce the idea that US patient groups often seem to prefer smaller pharma companies. Table 1. US patient groups rate biotech and medium-sized companies more highly for corporate reputation than 'big pharma', 2018: The top corporate rankings for corporate reputation (as judged by US patient groups familiar with the company) Looking at the US rankings for corporate reputation of 13 big pharma, peer to peer
Setting out the 2018 US rankings of just 13 of the larger major multinational pharma companies provides a different perspective on how these largest companies fare at corporate reputation, against what they regard as their corporate peers. Pfizer comes 1st; Genentech/Roche 2nd; and Novartis 3rd. ... End of press release ...
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