Has the Pandemic Changed the Public Perception of Pharma Companies?

In our previous blog post we talked about how COVID-19 affected the pharma industry in Europe. One question that arises is whether the public perception of pharmaceutical companies has changed based on the events in the past year. There are many journals around that have explored or are beginning to explore the topic. Here is what we know:

The pharma industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world. Before the pandemic hit, the hot topic was the digital advancement in pharma. Now, this is still on the table but it’s sharing a chair with the pandemic crisis. It seems that the current situation has pushed pharma, somewhat inadvertently at first, but intuitively now to focus on improving the relations with the end customer and steer public engagement and levels of trust.

The reputation of pharmaceutical companies has been discussed a lot through the years. From world-wide conspiracy theories to utopias where all the medicines in the world are free to everyone. While the latter sounds like a great world to live in, there are many obstacles for this to become a reality. However, the pharma companies have made a significant step in a positive direction with how some companies responded to the pandemic.

To measure the trust in pharma companies, the Caliber Group conducted a special study. Their CEO, Shahar Silbershatz, said for the European Pharmaceutical Review that: “The score is taken on a week-by-week basis to see how public opinion evolves over time and establish what might be impacting any changes.” You can read the full interview here. Some of the most interesting conclusions of Caliber’s study is that global pharma’s reputation is on the rise and more often than not small pharma beats big pharma.

The truth is the COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of misfortune with it. People are trying to tackle it in the best way they can. What must not be underestimated, however, is that the pandemic offered the pharma industry the chance to show its significance and importance. One thing that the pharma has demonstrated so far is that the industry can unify and work together when people’s health all around the globe is at stake. It looks like brighter future lies ahead but we must not forget that the power to make it better or worse remains in our hands. Together is the only way we can fight through this.