Americans Do Not Trust The Pharmaceutical Industry

Americans Are Unhappy With The Pharmaceutical Industry
Americans believe that the pharmaceutical industry is untrustworthy, puts profits over people, charges unjustifiably high prices for drugs, and is the biggest contributor to rising health care costs, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Profits Driving Health Care Costs
Despite the fact that most Americans believe prescription drugs have a generally positive impact on the health of the public today, seven in ten (70%) adults believe the industry puts profits over people and the same number believe these profits are a "very important" reason for rising health care costs. High profits was the number one reason given for rising health care costs, above issues such as "greed and waste in the health care system" and malpractice lawsuits.

Decreasing Trustworthiness

• Only 44% believe that pharmaceutical companies do a "good job" serving consumers, down from 79% in 1997.
  
  
• Half of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the pharmaceutical industry.
  
  
• Fewer than 2 in 10 Americans (18%) felt that they could trust drug company advertising, down from 33% in 1997. Just over half (51%) were in favor of regulation of drug company advertising.

Unjustifiably High Drug Costs

• The great majority of Americans (81%) believe pharmaceutical companies charge unjustifiably high prices for prescription drugs, and nearly three quarters of Americans (74%) believe high profit margins and excessive marketing costs are to blame.
  
  
• Only 22% of Americans agreed with the industry's assertion that research and development costs were responsible for high drug costs.
  
  
• A majority of Americans (65%) were in favor of regulating prescription drug prices.
  

March 7, 2005