Pharm Exec's 11th Annual Press Audit

The Annual Press Audit of issues in the pharmaceutical industry audit, sponsored by the Arrupe Center for Business Ethics at Saint Joseph’s University, tracks and analyzes the industry issues covered by the media. The results of this year’s survey indicate that the media’s scrutiny of pharma increased in 2014, continuing a three-year trend and establishing a five-year high. Drug safety again sits atop of the list of hot button issues, with R&D and healthcare reform next on the list.

Some of the top findings for 2014 include:

• Coverage of the industry has been trending up and was up again this year, increasing by 44% over last year to 196 articles.

• Drug safety dominated the news again, retaining its top position among hot button issues. R&D for new drugs, healthcare reform, high drug prices and the industry’s interaction with the FDA also received heavy coverage in 2014.

• The focus on healthcare reform was largely around the implementation of Obamacare with the same number of articles as last year – 60, with the New York Times accounting for half of the articles. There was a slight shift in the coverage from negative to neutral.

• Media coverage of the industry continues to be more critical than positive or neutral. In 2014, 47% of articles were negative toward the industry, which is the same figure as last year by well above the five-year average of 37%.

• Newly emerging issues in 2014, appearing on the hot button list for the first time, were tax inversion, ebola, and drug abuse.

 

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