For the second year in a row, the pharmaceutical industry has dipped further out of favor with patient groups around the world.
The industry’s reputation surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to PatientView’s annual survey of patient groups, peaking two years ago, when 60% of those surveyed said pharma’s reputation was “good” or “excellent.” Last year’s edition of the survey, however, saw that number decline to 57%.
PatientView released the latest survey results Tuesday, showing that the number of patient groups with a favorable view of the pharma industry has taken another slight drop, with 56% calling it “good” or “excellent.”
That’s still higher than the pre-pandemic numbers: Between 2014 and 2019, the number never crossed the 50% mark. It also ties the pharma industry with the biotech industry for the most positive ratings among several sectors of healthcare; the next highest-rated sector is retail pharmacies, which scored 48%, followed by generic drug manufacturers and medical devicemakers, with favorability scores of 44% and 43%, respectively.
The survey, which was conducted between December 2024 and March of this year, included 2,546 patient groups representing more than 41 million patients, with large proportions working in the cancer, rare diseases and HIV/AIDS spaces.
When asked about pharma’s performance in terms of specific activities, patient groups rated most highly the industry’s work to put out products that benefit patients, with 62% giving that a “good” or “excellent” rating.
Lowest rated, meanwhile, were matters of pricing: The industry scored below 20% on both pricing transparency and fair pricing policies. Still, the patient groups recognized some progress in that area, with funding transparency earning a 32% positive rating, up 12 points from 2020—the biggest improvement among the 14 activities included on the list.
“Pharma’s global reputation is only likely to improve when the industry continues to grow its understanding of the benefits that patient groups wish to attain from corporate partnerships,” PatientView said in the report.
“Patient groups are vocal in what they want to see from pharma, and regulators and policymakers are taking note,” it continued. “If the pharmaceutical industry is to continue to advance healthcare, it needs to do more than just consult patients and patient groups; it needs to build strategies and activities with them.”
As for which drugmakers the surveyed patient groups view most favorably, ViiV Healthcare once again took first place. Last year’s ranking placed Gilead Sciences and Roche behind ViiV, in that order; this year’s swaps the order of the two runners-up.
When the list was narrowed to just 15 Big Pharma companies, Roche took first place, followed by Gilead and Novartis.