Need of the hour

The 2012 Patient View survey of 600 international, national and regional patient groups, on the corporate reputation of pharma in general and 29 leading pharma companies in particular showed that the overall industry reputation has dropped. In terms of reputation, the pharma industry was 7th of the 8 healthcare sectors evaluated. Only 34% of respondents gave pharma a “good” or “excellent” rating for reputation. Pharma trailed retail pharmacists (62%), medical device companies (50%), private healthcare services (46%), biotech companies (44%) and generic drug makers (37%).

From a patient’s perspective this negative view of pharma is being driven by:
1)    A lack of fair pricing policies leading to unseemly profits (50%);
2)    A lack of transparency in all corporate activities (48%);
3)    Management of adverse event news (37%);
4)    Acting with integrity (32%)

Till the final quarter of the last century, the pharmaceutical industry's social, political, technological and economic credentials were unparalleled. Its range of noble and altruistic ideals attracted the best and brightest graduates who delivered an outstanding range of new medicines. Its single-minded pursuit of integrity was widely respected and its reputation, image and influence were without equal.