Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17517

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Publication type: news

Jack A
Patients’ groups distrust ‘big pharma’
The Finanical Times 2010 Mar 12
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc0714ac-2d62-11df-a262-00144feabdc0.html

Full text:

The majority of patients’ organisations consider pharmaceutical companies untrustworthy, according to a survey conducted by a UK-based consultancy to be released on Friday.

PatientView, which monitors the views of patient groups around the world, says that from 665 organisations assessed, only 37 per cent considered the industry “trustworthy” in 2008, and less than a quarter had noted any improvement since then.

Detailed rankings compiled from patient groups with a close knowledge of the drug company’s products showed many continental European groups rated highly, while US and UK businesses were less well judged.

Novartis of Switzerland performed best, and Baxter of the US worst.

The ratings will add to the gloom in the drug sector, which is facing concerns over patient access to treatments as a result of rising unemployment in the recession and cutbacks in medical care.

In spite of efforts by the industry in recent months to provide more information on clinical trials, and funding to doctors and patient groups, 55 per cent of the patient groups also said they did not believe there had been any real increase in transparency over the past year.

The negative views are significant given that patients are generally thought to have a positive attitude to the industry as they are benefiting from life-saving products.

However, Alexandra Wyke, head of PatientView, said many patients’ groups – notably those in the US – had expressed concerns about rising drug prices and inadequate access programmes for those on low incomes.

“There is a feeling that patient assistance programmes [to provide free drugs] have been cut back, pricing has been ratcheted up,” she said.

Pharmaceutical trustworthiness ranking in 2009*
Rank Company Change in 2008 rank
1 Novartis (Switzerland) Up 3
2 Sanofi-Aventis (France) **
3 Bayer (Germany) **
3 Roche/Genentech (Switzerland) Up 5
5 Abbott Laboratories (US) Up 3
6 AstraZeneca (UK) – 6 Pfizer/Wyeth (US) Down 4
8 Johnson & Johnson (US) Down 7
9 Bristol-Myers Squibb (US) Down 1
9 GlaxoSmithKline (UK) Down 6
11 Eli Lilly (US) Down 5

• Patient groups’ opinions on whether companies had improved their levels of trustworthiness
  • Not included in last year’s survey
    Source: Patientview
    A frequent frustration of patient groups was that they were given insufficient information on the results of clinical trials of new drugs and about early-stage trials in which they could participate in order to gain access to experimental life-saving treatments.

Ms Wyke said Novartis had established a strong reputation for developing tight links with patient groups, notably for its leukaemia drug Glivec, and Sanofi-Aventis had recently boosted efforts to establish better contact with patient groups.

Wim Leereveld, head of the Access to Medicines Index, which is releasing an alternative ranking system in June, warned that patients’ views should not be taken in isolation.

“Sometimes the perceptions are wrong,” he said, stressing the broader nature of his index. “I think the sector is relatively transparent compared with other industries.”

GlaxoSmithKline, which experienced a sharp drop in its trustworthiness rating, said: “We believe it is imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them.

“The patient is central to all that we do and we are determined to be more flexible and responsive to their needs.”