Neurology patient groups have chided the pharma industry for investing too little into treating disorders of the nervous system. The call for more spending rang out from a survey, which found neurology patient groups are less satisfied with the current level of investment than their peers in other therapeutic areas.
PatientView generated (PDF) the data as part of the 2023 to 2024 edition of its long-running survey. The latest edition collected responses from 339 neurology patient groups—almost 20% more than last year—to see how the pharma industry is perceived. PatientView picked out the feedback on investment as a highlight of the report.
Overall, 52% of neurology groups called investment into treating nervous system disorders inadequate. The average across all therapeutic areas was 40%. Most groups representing patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are satisfied with the level of pharma investment.
Dissatisfaction among neurology patient groups was driven by organizations that specialize in dementia and neuromuscular conditions. PatientView found 57% of dementia groups and 55% of neuromuscular organizations believe investment is inadequate.
The figures are the highest of any therapeutic area and explain why the overall neurology figure was so high despite multiple sclerosis patient groups expressing satisfaction with the level of investment. At 25%, the proportion of multiple sclerosis patient groups that said investment is inadequate was lower than all therapeutic areas apart from breast cancer and HIV/AIDS.
Neurology patient groups were less likely to believe they can influence R&D than organizations focused on other therapeutic areas, such as blood cancer and cardiovascular disease. The groups were also less likely to rate the industry as good or excellent at providing products that benefit patients and innovation.
Patient-group relations are an area that the organizations want pharma to do more, for example by having an efficient process for selecting groups to work with and building long-term relationships. The ranking of the companies with the best corporate reputation shed light on which drugmakers are coming closest to living up to that ideal—and once again revealed that one business dominates the field.
Roche completed another clean sweep of the charts, securing the top spots on rankings of companies that the patient groups know and work with. Some of the second and third places changed as Lundbeck slipped down the charts and Horizon Therapeutics was swallowed by Amgen. Novartis and Sanofi were among the companies to gain ground in the latest survey.