WSJ Pharmalot
| Ed Silverman
Amid
the many challenges confronting the pharmaceutical industry is a need to polish
its reputation, but a new survey says the world’s largest drug makers have
failed to make any progress in recent years.
For
the third consecutive year, the industry has garnered an average rating based
on seven attributes – innovation; performance; leadership; citizenship;
governance; workplace and products and services. And interestingly, all of the
major companies are, overall, perceived rather similarly.
“On
one level, many pharmaceutical companies find this is a good situation, because
their internal perception is that everyone hates them and is out to get them,”
says Kasper Ulf Nielsen, executive partner at The Reputation Institute, a consulting firm.
“But
it also indicates the industry is stuck at an average level of trust,
reputation and respect, because [the rating] has not been able to move over the
past three years. And the challenge they have is not being able to build a
perception they are outstanding in any of these” attributes.
The
highest ranking went to Bayer, although Nielsen points out that less than five
points separates the German drug maker from Novartis NOVN.VX -0.32%, which ranked last among the dozen large drug makers that were included
in the survey. Bayer did not respond to a request for comment and a Novartis
spokeswoman says the drug maker is not familiar with the survey methodology and
so would not comment. [UPDATE: A Bayer spokesman says “Bayer is a trusted
brand, and our reputation is very important to us.”]