Dive Brief:
- PatientView surveyed 1,150 patient groups from 58 countries and asked them about the corporate reputation of 37 pharma companies. The respondents ranked ViiV Healthcare (the HIV therapeutics firm created by Pfizer and Glaxo in 2009) number one across the board—and Mylan Labs at #37.
- The six indicators of corporate reputation include: patient centricity, patient information, patient safety, useful products, transparency, and integrity.
- Unlike ViiV, which was #1 in both 2013 and 2014, some companies included in the survey either saw their stars rise or were not as well-esteemed as in previous years. For example, Biogen Idec rose from #31 in 2013, to #19 in 2014. In contrast, Gilead fell from the #2 ranking position in 2013 to #14 in 2014—likely a consequence of the controversially high prices for specialty hep C meds Sovaldi and Harvoni.
Dive Insight:
This is the second year in a row that UK-headquartered Viiv Healthcare, which specializes in HIV therapeutics, has won the top spot in this survey. This year, its first-place rank is based on "patient centricity, providing high-quality patient information and patient safety and providing useful products," according to the PatientView report. GSK and Pfizer may actually IPO ViiV later this year (the companies have already appointed financial heavy-hitters Citi, Goldman, and Morgan Stanley to advise on the plan), which would be the largest single pharma IPO ever.
Overall, patients' perception of the pharmaceutical industry has risen slightly. In 2013, 35.4% of respondents said that pharma has either a "good" or "excellent" corporate reputation, compared with 39% in 2014. However, while pharmaceutical companies are far from reviled—and they certainly are appreciated in many ways—patients still see areas for improvement. Examples include having a good relationship with the media, providing access to clinical trials, and acting with integrity.
Patients have always played a role in healthcare policy, but lately that role has begun to rise. As the new 21st Century Cure Initiative, created by the bipartisan Congressional Energy and Commerce Committee, continues to gain momentum, the focus on patients—and their perspective—will become even more powerful and influential.