A new survey shows that three Big Pharmas have stolen the hearts of patient groups representing nearly 1 million people with cardiovascular conditions.
In the inaugural CV edition (PDF) of its “corporate reputation of pharma” series, PatientView surveyed 37 patient groups from all over the world focused on supporting people with cardiovascular conditions, including both broader CV support groups and more specialized ones dedicated to familial hypercholesterolemia, coronary heart disease, female patients, caregivers and more.
When asked about their impressions of 10 drugmakers involved in the field of cardiovascular conditions, the patient groups ranked Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen and Novartis, in that order, as having the three best corporate reputations among the companies with which they were familiar.
That ranking stayed true through several iterations of the reputation question: among a narrowed-down list of eight companies classified as Big Pharmas that the groups were familiar with and among two separate lists of five pharmas that the groups had working relationships with.
All three of those companies are major sellers of CV therapeutics, such as Boehringer’s Jardiance, Amgen’s Repatha and Novartis’ Entresto and Leqvio.
In ranking the drugmakers with the best corporate reputations, the criteria most important to the patient groups included integrity, transparency, patient-centricity, equitable access and services provided beyond just medications, among others.
Overall, nearly 80% of the CV patient groups surveyed rated the pharma industry’s reputation as “good” or “excellent.” That’s the second-highest rating among PatientView’s various surveys of groups spanning a multitude of specialties; on average, 57% of patient groups agreed with those labels for the industry. The CV groups’ glowing report was topped only by the 83% of immune disorder-focused groups who gave pharma a “good” or “excellent” label.
The 77% of CV groups that called pharma’s reputation “good” or “excellent” also outpaced the proportion of those groups that said the same for eight other segments of the broader healthcare industry, including retail pharmacists, biotech companies and medical device makers.
The patient groups were also asked to rate 14 specific activities of the pharma industry. At the top of their list was the industry’s ability to provide products that benefit patients, earning “good” or “excellent” labels from 77% of the groups. That was followed by high scores in innovation, ensuring patient safety, patient-group relations and patient-centricity, all of which earned those top ratings from at least 50% of the groups.
Despite those high ratings, there’s still room for improvement for drugmakers involved in the cardiovascular space. When asked for their advice, according to a sampling of responses, the patient groups requested that pharmas offer greater decentralization, easier-to-read and more freely available information and increased promotion of patient groups’ work to healthcare providers.