The Corporate Reputation of Pharma in 2023/2024 - The Patient Perspective - Cancer Edition - The Views of 520 Cancer Patient Groups

The Corporate Reputation of Pharma - from the Perspective of Cancer Patient Groups, 2023 is the 11th cancer edition in the annual ‘Corporate Reputation’ series. The review contains the results of a November 2023 to late-February 2024 survey, answered by 570 cancer patient groups.

2023’s 570 respondent cancer patient groups were headquartered in 75 countries - the largest representation (113 respondent patient groups) being from the USA. The 570 stated that, collectively, they had actively supported and served almost 10 million patients living with cancer during 2023.

Continue reading, for details about:

• The headline industry-wide cancer results of the 2023 survey.
• The performance at corporate reputation of the 28 individual pharma companies included in the 2023 cancer analysis.

Summary of Results

Industry Wide:

Several factors may have influenced the opinions of 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups, not least:

• a constant rise in the global incidence of cancer;
• the significant disparities in cancer death rates and survival rates worldwide (even between countries of similar GDP); and
• the rising costs of research into the development of cancer medicines.

According to research company IQVIA, this spend reached US$223 billion worldwide in 2023 (US$25 billion up on 2022). Such big costs have caused governments to act cautiously when considering whether to approve new cancer treatments - resulting in further geographic differences in patient access to new cancer treatments.3 In addition, oncological innovation no longer lies largely in the hands of the established pharmaceutical industry. Emerging biopharma companies (not represented in this 2023 ‘Corporate Reputation’ cancer report) were responsible for 61% of the new oncology drugs produced in 2023.

Cancer patient groups reported a slight decline in the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation in 2023: 63% of 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups rated the industry’s reputation as “Excellent” or “Good”, compared with 68% in 2022. However, 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups did rank the pharma industry first for corporate reputation out of nine healthcare sectors in 2023. Two factors underpinned the pharma industry’s decline in reputation in 2023.

• Innovative skills: Respondent cancer patient groups believed that mainstream pharma’s ability to innovate suffered a downturn in 2023. 61% of that year’s respondent cancer patient groups described pharma as “Excellent” or “Good” at innovation, compared with 70% saying the same in 2022.
• Access to medicines: Just 33% of 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups thought pharma “Excellent” or “Good” at increasing patient access to medicines, compared with 41% saying the same in 2022. Views, however, varied globally - probably due to inequities in patient access to medicines across the globe. So, for instance, 43% of 2023’s 133 respondent North-American cancer patient groups considered pharma “Excellent” or “Good” at increasing patient access to medicines, while only 20% of 2023’s 207 respondent Western-European cancer patient groups said the same.

Other key insights revealed:

• The corporate reputation of pharma, 2019-2023: Percentage of respondent cancer patient groups stating “Excellent” or “Good”
• How good or bad the pharma industry was at carrying out specific activities, 2023 v. 2022: % of respondent cancer patient groups stating “Excellent” or “Good”

Advice from 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups to pharma

2023’s 570 respondent cancer patient groups provided the ‘Corporate Reputation’ survey with 864 comments about how pharma could improve. These comments came from 54 different countries - demonstrating a shared belief worldwide that pharma can do better.

Top of the agenda for cancer patient groups was increased patient access to cancer medicines. Cancer patient groups also made clear that they wanted to become more engaged in three key areas:

• in R&D processes;
• in the task of providing better patient information about clinical trials; and
• in policymaking on drug reimbursement.

Furthermore, a few of 2023’s respondent cancer patient groups argued that the entire experience of cancer care encountered by patients with cancer needs to be reviewed - to reduce the ordeal which this type of care imposes on patients. As one national UK-based cancer patient group noted: “to make the patients’ journey feel protected, feel better, and feel safer”.

Companies included in the cancer edition of the 2023 ‘Corporate Reputation’ survey

The 28 companies featured in the cancer edition of the 2023 ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey were selected on the criteria of size of revenue, or, by request from companies or patient groups. They include:

• AbbVie
• Amgen
• Astellas
• AstraZeneca
• Bayer
• Biogen
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Bristol Myers Squibb
• Daiichi Sankyo
• Eisai
• Eli Lilly
• Ferring
• Gilead Sciences
• GSK
• Ipsen
• Janssen
• Menarini
• Merck & Co/MSD
• Merck KGaA/EMD Serono
• Novartis
• Novo Nordisk
• Otsuka
• Pfizer
• Pierre Fabre
• Roche/Genentech/Chugai
• Sanofi
• Servier
• Takeda

Companies are assessed on issues of importance to patient groups.

Individual Company Findings, 2023 - and the Fastest Risers in the Rankings, 2023 v. 2022

The top-three rankings in 2023 (out of all 28 companies) - as assessed by respondent cancer patient groups familiar with the company:

• 1st, Roche
• 2nd, AstraZeneca
• 3rd, Pfizer

The top-three rankings in 2023 (out of 26 companies) - as assessed by respondent cancer patient groups working with the company:

• 1st, Roche
• 2nd, AstraZeneca
• 3rd, Servier

Other key insights revealed:

• The companies rising the most in the upper rankings (out of all 28 companies), 2023 v. 2022, as assessed by respondent cancer patient groups familiar with the company
• The companies rising the most in the upper rankings (out of 26 companies), 2023 v. 2022, as assessed by respondent cancer patient groups working with the company

Finally, the analyst would like to thank the 570 cancer patient groups that gave up their time to respond to the 2023 ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey.

The respondent cancer patient groups feel that the sharing of their evaluation and experiences on whether the pharma industry (and individual pharma companies) meets patient needs and expectations will help the industry gain valuable insights into improvement.

Because many of the 28 pharma companies featured in the 2023 cancer edition of the ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey are currently building strategies around patients, the respondent feedback provided by the survey results can influence company models and approaches, enabling closer alignment with patient needs and perspectives.