Mental-health patient groups call for better engagement with pharma, to support more-productive R&D Mental-health patient groups call for better engagement with pharma, to support more-productive R&DEmbargoed publication date: Tuesday, 3rd July 2018, 6am GMTPress release based on the results of a new report: 'The Corporate Reputation of Pharma, 2017—the Perspective of Mental-Health Patient Groups', 3rd edition
14 companies analysed in this report: Allergan I AstraZeneca I Boehringer Ingelheim I Bristol-Myers Squibb I Eli Lilly I GSK I Janssen I Lundbeck I Merck & Co / MSD I Otsuka I Pfizer I Roche I Sanofi I and Teva If you are a patient organisation and wish to receive a full copy of this report free-of-charge please contact on the email listed below State of relationships between mental-health patient groups and the pharmaceutical industry Mental-health patient groups provide pivotal support to patients who are experiencing issues of mental health. These patient groups will also typically reach out, and offer help, to the families, carers, and friends of the individuals with a mental-health issue (indeed, some mental-health patient groups specialise in representing the interests of just these latter stakeholders). Mental-health patient groups train carers, family, and friends in helping with people living with a mental-health issue—and even train health professionals. In addition, mental-health patient organisations do much to raise public awareness of the prejudice shown to people with a mental-health issue. Yet, despite the important role played by this component of the patient movement, data from the mental-health element of the 2017 Corporate-Reputation survey confirms that levels of engagement between pharma companies and mental-health patient groups are not extensive (except in the case of a few companies—particularly, Janssen). CHART 1: Numbers of companies with which mental-health patient groups work, 2017 (n=101) As chart 1 shows, nearly half of 2017’s respondent mental-health patient groups do not work with any pharma company; and 11% work with only one or two companies. CHART 2: Number of mental-health patient groups partnering with each company, 2017 (n=101) Janssen counted as many as 47 partner patient groups from among the 101 respondent mental-health patient groups; Lundbeck, 28; and Lilly, 25. However, numbers of partner patient groups were far smaller for the remaining 11 companies analysed in this report. A call for further engagement with pharma Numerous mental-health patient groups (whether local, regional, national, or international) commenting to the 2017 Corporate-Reputation survey called on pharma companies to become more involved with mental-health patient organisations, and asked that they recognise the central role played in mental healthcare by mental-health patient groups (though such a call was not universally echoed by all of the respondent mental-health patient groups). The request by mental-health patient groups for more and closer relationships with pharma may come as a surprise to pharmaceutical companies, since, in past editions of the Corporate-Reputation survey, mental-health patient groups have often been critical of pharma. Even in 2017, a proportion of mental-health patient groups continue to have serious reservations about the industry (at least, about some companies). Nonetheless, mental-health patient groups have no doubt about the importance of the role they could play in providing input to pharma. Companies would be helped to move further along the path towards greater patient centricity—and both patient groups and industry would benefit from the shared mutual respect gained in the process. Mental-health communities believe that, by liaising with the companies’ technical teams, they could advise pharma on all aspects of R&D—with the aim of ensuring that companies can learn more about the concerns of people living with mental-health issues. The full report contains all of the comments received from respondent mental-health patient groups So, how did the companies perform at corporate reputation in 2017, in the viewpoints of mental-health patient groups? Ranking at corporate reputation is measured by patient groups familiar with a company. Janssen was ranked 1st out of 14 companies in 2017 by the 74 mental-health patient groups familiar with it. Janssen has been rated in the top position for corporate reputation by mental-health patient groups for all three of the years in which the mental-health element of the Corporate-Reputation study has been running. Otsuka was featured in the mental-health Corporate-Reputation analysis for the first time in 2017, and was ranked 2nd out of 14 companies by the 31 mental-health patient groups familiar with it. The Japan-headquartered company achieved this high ranking by being rated 2nd for eight of the 12 individual indicators of corporate reputation. Lundbeck was ranked 3rd out of 14 companies in 2017 by the 48 mental-health patient groups familiar with it. Lundbeck came 2nd for four of the 12 individual indicators of corporate reputation. PROFILES OF THE 101 MENTAL-HEALTH PATIENT GROUPS PARTICIPATING IN THE 2017 STUDY Country headquarters of 2017’s 101 respondent mental-health patient groups: Number Geographic remit of 2017’s 101 respondent mental-health patient groups: Percentage FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS REPORT, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT DETAILS BELOW-End of press release- |