Americans rap
drug companies' concern
for people, support drugs from Canada
A report released by the
Kaiser Foundation shows that two-thirds of Americans want more
governmental intervention in setting drug prices, citing drug
manufacturer's emphasis on profits above people. Also, a vast
majority reject claims of the FDA and large pharma that Canadian
pharmacies are unsafe and sales from Canada will harm drug company
R&D.
Government
Regulation of the Drug Industry
The public’s
concerns about prescription drug prices and drug company profits
translate into support for many proposals to control drug costs. For
example, in 2005, almost two-thirds (65%) of the public say there
should be more government regulation of prescription drug prices,
and 70% of these people (or 46% of all adults) continue to support
more regulation of prices even it leads to less research and
development of new drugs.
And, in November
2004, nearly three-quarters (73%) of adults supported the idea of
allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs imported from Canada
and eight in ten (80%) favored changing the law to allow the
government to use its buying power to negotiate lower drug prices
for people on Medicare. The argument that these policies would lead
drug companies to do less research and development does not resonate
with most Americans: 70% disagree that importing drugs and 64%
disagree that negotiation would affect development of new
medications.
Views On The
Pharmaceutical Industry
Understanding
the public’s views on the pharmaceutical industry is important
because these views can influence policy preferences. Although the
public is generally positive about the value of prescription drugs
to society, they have much more mixed views of pharmaceutical
companies themselves. One-half of adults have an unfavorable opinion
of pharmaceutical companies with drug companies ranking ahead of oil
and tobacco companies in favorability, but behind many other groups
such as hospitals, airlines and banks.
And while nine
in ten (91%) adults say that drug companies make an important
contribution by researching and developing new drugs, beliefs about
the motivation behind drug companies’ work are less positive. Seven
in ten (70%) agree that drug companies put profits ahead of people,
while one-quarter (24%) agree that companies are more concerned with
saving lives and improving quality of life than profits.
Ratings of
pharmaceutical companies’ customer service have been on a decline
since 1997 when almost eight in ten (79%) people said drug companies
generally do a “good job” serving consumers. In 2004, for first
time, more people said drug companies generally do a “bad job” (48%)
than a “good job” (44%) of serving consumers.
Views On
Prescription Drugs And Drug Safety
Prescription
drugs play a part in half of all adults’ daily lives, and most agree
that these medications have a positive value to society. Majorities
say that prescription drugs have had a positive impact on the health
and quality of life of Americans in general (78%) and have made a
“big difference” in the lives of people with chronic conditions such
as heart disease (72%) and cancer (63%).
Despite recent
news attention to prescription drug safety following the recall of
the drug Vioxx, most Americans feel confident about the safety of
prescription drugs sold in the United States (80%) and similar
shares feel confident in the FDA’s ability to ensure this safety
(77%).
Views On Drug
Costs
The public views
pharmaceutical companies as major contributors to rising health care
costs. In 2004, seven in ten (69%) adults say that high profits made
by drug companies are a “very important” reason behind rising health
care costs, and almost a quarter (24%) say drug company profits are
the most important reason, ahead of malpractice lawsuits (20%) and
greed and waste in the system (20%).
Furthermore, an
argument sometimes put forth by the pharmaceutical industry that
prescription drugs decrease overall medical costs by reducing the
need for other services does not resonate with the majority of
adults: fewer than a quarter (23%) agree with this view, compared
with six in ten (59%) who agree that prescription drugs increase
overall medical costs (11% do not think prescription drugs affect
the nation’s medical costs).
Most of the
public do not believe that research and development drive the cost
of prescription drugs, instead three-quarters (74%) say drug company
profit margins or marketing costs are the largest contributors to
the price of prescription drugs and eight in ten (81%) say that drug
costs are not justified because companies charge more for
medications than necessary.
Prescription
Drug Advertising
The vast
majority of adults (90%) have seen or heard advertisements for
prescription medications, but many are skeptical of the information
provided. Fewer than two in ten (18%) say they can trust what
pharmaceutical companies say in their ads “most of the time”, a much
smaller share than in 1997 when 33% said they could trust drug
company ads “most of the time”.
Despite this
skepticism, many people are paying attention to these ads. Almost
two-thirds (64%) of people who have seen prescription drug ads say
that these advertisements generally provide useful information at
least some of the time. One-quarter (26%) of people who have seen
drug ads say they have talked to a doctor about a medication as a
result of seeing an ad and more than half of these people said the
doctor prescribed the particular medication.