How to Earn Back the Public's Trust

(Survey ran from 4 February 2009 through 14 March 2009. N=113 respondents) See Resources & Further Reading below... "I blame myself and those of us in the industry for the bad reputation that the pharmaceutical industry has," said Ray Kerins, Pfizer's global PR chief, during a conference presentation. Kerins finds it incredible that despite making products designed to save lives and cure diseases, the drug industry enjoys such low esteem among the public. "How in the hell do we have such a bad reputation?" was his way of expressing it. "It makes no sense." Results of a 2008 Harris Interactive poll of American attitudes toward corporate America revealed that only 26 percent of Americans view the pharmaceutical industry industry favorably. 52 percent are firmly negative, which places pharma slightly below big oil, and above tobacco. Is the drug industry's bad reputation is deserved? What are the specific reasons why the public has such low esteem for the industry? This survey attempted to answer these questions as well as get some ideas for how the drug industry can improve its public image. Survey Results: The overall results are summarized in charts below. Access a more detailed online Summary of Responses plus view comments from respondents here. Respondents were first asked: "In general, do you believe the industry's bad reputation is deserved?" (Responses: Yes, definitely; No, definitely not; Maybe, it depends; No opinion one way or another). Respondents were asked: "Regardless of being deserved or not, the drug industry's poor image among the public, which includes consumers and physicians, must be due to some issue or issues. Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements, which are not mutually exclusive of one another." Response choices (each response had a numerical rating as shown in parantheses): Strongly Agree (+2), Somewhat Agree (+1), Neither Agree Nor Disagree (0), Somewhat Disagree (-1), Strongly Disagree (-2). The statements were: The industry has gotten a bad rep because of lack of transparency regarding negative clinical data. It's bad reputation is primarily due to the "high costs" of prescription drugs. The industry has not done enough to educate the public about the benefits it provides. Among physicians, the industry has lost its reputation because it has "marginalized" sales reps as mere "lunch delivery" people. The industry's bad rep is due primarily to the huge profits it enjoys. The industry has lost the trust of consumers because it promotes treatments for frivolous, non-medical conditions. The media is the main culprit because it reports mostly bad news about the industry and not the good that it does. In the above chart, the length of the bars represent the average rating. The percentages represent the percent of respondents who answered Strongly Agree or Somewhat Agree. Respondents were asked: "Regarding solutions for improving the industry's reputation, please indicate you level of agreement or disagreement with the following suggestions (again, not all are mutually exclusive)." Response choices (each response had a numerical rating as shown in parantheses): Strongly Agree (+2), Somewhat Agree (+1), Neither Agree Nor Disagree (0), Somewhat Disagree (-1), Strongly Disagree (-2). The statements were: It should be much more transparent in reporting clinical trial results. It should do more to promote comparative studies to prove the efficacy of prescription drugs. It should greatly expand its patient assistance programs to cover more people (eg, the unemployed). It should support Medicare's right to negotiate prices under Part D. It should ramp up its PR effort (eg, pay much more attention to the media by "engaging" and "educating" them). The drug industry should freeze or lower prescription drug prices for everyone It should not lower prices across the board, but it should help by re-imbursing all or part of co-payments made by people with prescription drug coverage. In the above chart, the length of the bars represent the average rating. The percentages represent the percent of respondents who answered Strongly Agree or Somewhat Agree. NOTE: 46% of respodents said they were VERY supportive of the pharma industry and another 34% said they were SOMEWHAT supportive of the industry. 27% said they were a pharmaceutical, biotech, or drug device company employee (commercial or research). 50% said they were employed at an ad agency/marketing/communications or other company having pharmaceutical companies as clients and 7% said they were a Physician, nurse, or other healthcare professional/medical student and 11% were members of the general public "unaligned with pharma industry." Resources & Further Reading: PMN Article: Pharma's Bad Rep or Bad Rap. More Detailed Online Summary of Results