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Published 28th September 2015: Corporate Reputation of Pharma-the perspective of 550 European Patient Groups - 34 companies reviewed

For further information about PatientView’s ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ series of reports, access to a PDF version of this press statement, and report pricing, go to http://www.patient-view.com/bull-corp-reputation.html
 
 
 
 
 

European patient groups fear pharma’s pricing tactics are causing health inequities
 
 
 
 
 
  • Findings based on the opinions of 550 Europe-based patient groups responding to the 2014 edition of PatientView’s annual study: ‘The Corporate Reputation of Pharma—from a Patient Perspective’.
  • Survey conducted November 2014 to January 2015.
  • This independent study, funded by PatientView, represents (for the second time) the perspectives of patient groups based across Europe (550 in 2014) on the corporate reputation of 34 individual pharma companies, and of the European pharma industry as a whole, during 2014. The opinions of 2014’s respondent Europe-based patient groups are compared in the report with those from the 2013 European patient-group survey.

The 34 pharma companies reviewed for their corporate reputation in Europe are: AbbVie l Actavis l Allergan l Amgen l Astellas l AstraZeneca l Baxter International l Bayer l Biogen Idec l Boehringer Ingelheim l Bristol-Myers Squibb l Celgene l Eli Lilly (Lilly) l Gilead Sciences l GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) l Grũnenthal l Janssen l Lundbeck l Menarini l Merck & Co (the US company) l Merck Group (the German company) l Mylan l Novartis l Novo Nordisk l Pfizer l Roche l Sanofi l Servier l Shire l Stada Arzneimittel l Takeda l Teva l UCB l ViiV
 
 
 
 

KEY FINDINGS

Europe-based patient groups regard pharma more positively in 2014 than they did in 2013: 26% of the patient groups responding to the 2014 Corporate-Reputation survey say that the industry’s corporate reputation has improved (against 18.9% saying the same in 2013).

But, even so, European patient groups express mixed emotions in 2014 about aspects of pharma: from the hope engendered in patients by a number of important new clinical trials, to the disbelief that reimbursement authorities refuse to approve some of pharma’s latest products on the grounds of the high prices set by the companies.

The lowest ratings awarded by Europe-based patient groups to pharma activities in 2014 relate to the ability (or otherwise) of pharma companies to implement fair pricing policies. As many as 43.4% of the 550 respondent Europe-based patient groups think pharma poor at pricing products fairly. This opinion is held by 63% of French patient groups, by 57% of those in Italy, 53% in Germany, 53% in the UK, and 50% in Austria [see chart, below].

Comments offered by the respondent Europe-based patient groups show that areas of distrust between patient groups and pharma include the following: pharma corruption scandals, and litigation against pharma; the possibility that health professionals may be in the pocket of the industry; absence of robust science when presenting clinical data; lack of patient access to expensive new drugs; excessive profit-making; and … not taking patients’ needs and viewpoints into consideration.

 

Sample comments from respondent Europe-based patient groups, 2014
 
 
 

 “For the chronically-sick (our target group), it is very difficult to look for independent pharmacists and health insurers.” —Netherlands-based regional cancer carers group

“I marked pharma as poor, due to issues over drug costs, which are high in our subject area of cancer, and have received a lot of press lately."—UK-based national cancer patient group

“In the current economic climate, you can have the best drug in the world, but if NICE and the NHS reject it on the grounds of cost, it is unavailable to patients.”—UK-based national sexual-health patient group
 
 
 

“Danish migraineurs are very aware of the price difference between original and generic medicine, and conclude that the producers of the originals make a bigger profit than acceptable.”—Denmark-based national neurological patient group

“Multinational pharma companies are too profit-minded, and too little patient minded.”—France-based national umbrella patient group

“The pharmaceutical industry’s reputation among patients has deteriorated. The patient’s self-determination is not always respected, even in Finland, and this can be of great importance when considering the distrust caused by the pharmaceutical industry within the patient.”—Finland-based national mental-health patient group
 
 
 
 

Percentage of patient groups world believing pharma to be “Poor” at setting fair pricing policies (2014) (Numbers in brackets are the number of respondent patient groups)

Europe-wide results for individual pharma companies, 2014

The three pharma companies (out of 34 companies) nominated as top by Europe-based patient groups as having the best corporate reputation in 2014 are: Viiv Healthcare, Novo Nordisk, and AbbVie

ViiV Healthcare ranks overall 1st in Europe out of 34 pharmaceutical companies. ViiV’s leading position is due to …

  • Its close associations with HIV/AIDS patient groups (the most influential of the patient groups within the patient movement).
  • Its efforts to improve patients’ access to HIV/AIDS medicines.
  • A ViiV programme to engage with HIV/AIDS patients, aimed at understanding treatment needs. And …
  • ViiV’s highly-productive R&D pipeline, which is much approved of by Europe-based HIV/AIDS and sexual-health patient groups.
  • ViiV ranks top in this survey at two of the six PatientView indicators of corporate reputation: patient-centredness; and record on patient safety.

Novo Nordisk is ranked overall 2nd in Europe out of 34 pharma companies Novo Nordisk’s highly-ranked position is due to …

  • As many as 58% of the 63 respondent Europe-based diabetes patient groups familiar with Novo Nordisk state that the company is the best pharma company for two of the six PatientView indicators of corporate reputation: patient centricity; and providing high-quality information to patients.
  • Novo’s efforts to understand the needs of people living with diabetes.
  • Its investments in patient-centred research. And …
  • Its successful development of drugs for obesity, and, potentially, for Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Novo Nordisk ranks top in this survey at two of the six PatientView indicators of corporate reputation: providing high-quality information to patients; and corporate record of transparency.

AbbVie is ranked overall 3rd in Europe out of 34 pharma companies AbbVie’s highly-ranked position is due to …

  •  Positive feedback about the company from the 40 respondent Europe-based rheumatology patient groups familiar with AbbVie. As many as 53% of these rheumatology regard the company as the best at being patient centric; and 56% say that AbbVie is best at producing high-quality products. And …
  • AbbVie’s research efforts in the subject area of age-related diseases.
  • AbbVie ranks top in this survey at one of the six PatientView indicators of corporate reputation: integrity.
 
 
 
 
 

Final rankings of 34 pharma companies by European patient groups in 2014, v 2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For more information on this new report
Corporate Reputation of Pharma- from the Perspective of European Patient Groups

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