The American public’s trust level in pharmaceutical companies fell 13%, dropping down to 38% in 2018 compared to 2017, accord to Edelman’s recently released Edelman Trust Barometer. According to the report, the “pharma industry [is being] blamed for high cost of drugs and aggressive marketing of opioids as addiction reaches epidemic levels”.

Steve Weiss, Senior Vice President at Edelman, writes on Edelman’s website that “This makes pharma companies the least-trusted healthcare industry in the U.S., far lower than hospitals/clinics (70% trust), consumer health (56%), biotech/life sciences (55%) and insurance (46%).” One way to combat this, Weiss suggests, is by partnering with advocacy groups. Such partnerships will add to credibility, especially if the advocacy group is a member of the National Health Council, which has a stringent set of accountability and ethical standards.

Weiss also advises to increase transparency – starting with research and drug development to financial / funding situations, all the way through to content development and article authors, editors, and reviewers. Globally speaking, the general public were more trusting of a pharmaceutical company “if it also provided information, tools, and support to help [patients] manage [their] disease.”

Click here to read the full 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer report.