Top 10 Rated Pharmaceutical Companies of 2017

On May 31, 2017, research and advisory firm Reputation Institute presented the results of their 2017 Global Pharmaceutical RepTrak Study. The study grabbed the attention of the pharmaceutical community because it focuses on the big pharma firms around the globe and provided insights on how they are perceived. In a world where consumers are growing increasingly wary of large pharmaceutical companies, it’s interesting to know how these firms performed in the eyes of their target audience.

The Top 10 Companies

The 2017 Global Pharmaceutical RepTrak Study focused on 17 large, multinational companies and rated them among people from 8 countries, gathering 16,800 ratings in the process. The subjects had to be at least “somewhat familiar” with the companies involved in the study, and they had to give scores to the firms based on their products, services, innovation, business performance, work environment, and other factors. Each company has the possibility to earn 100 points if they scored perfectly in each category.

The Reputation Institute then ranked the firms according to the ratings they received from the subjects. According to the study, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies of 2017 are as follows:

1. AbbVie — 74.5 RepTrak points

2. Novo Nordisk — 74.0 RepTrak points

3. Takeda Pharmaceutical — 73.8 RepTrak points

4. Roche — 73.4 RepTrak points

5. Janssen Pharmaceuticals — 72.5 RepTrak points

6. Gilead Sciences — 72.4 RepTrak points

7. Bayer — 72.3 RepTrak points

8. MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme)— 72.2 RepTrak points

9. Sanofi — 72.0 RepTrak points

10. Eli Lilly — 71.9 RepTrak points

Interesting Details

Long-time pharmacists will immediately notice that Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are not on this top 10 list, which is interesting since these are 2 of the most well-known entities in big pharma. Unfortunately, the study focuses on reputation, not popularity, and it seems Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have not made a great impression on their target market, based on these results.

Even Bayer, another well-known firm, did not escape a hit to their reputation in this survey. The German multinational pharma company ranked first in last year’s Global Pharmaceutical RepTrak Study, with a score of 70.6 points. While Bayer’s points actually increased this year by 1.7, it was overshadowed by other companies that scored better, thereby dropping to the 7^th spot. This is definitely something that Bayer should work on if it wants to hold on to its market share.

It’s also interesting to note that the top pharmaceutical company of 2017 has come a long way since last year. AbbVie had a score of 67.0 points and was actually ranked 10^th in the 2016 Global Pharmaceutical RepTrak Study, but the Chicago-based company has apparently worked hard to turn the tides. In just 12 months, it has generated almost $26 billion and earned 5.3 more points to grab the top spot in the study.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to dismiss the 2017 Global Pharmaceutical RepTrak Study because it tracks subjective opinion instead of published numerical data and cold, hard facts. However, it’s important to remember that reputation can have a huge impact on a pharmaceutical company’s overall performance. Without the trust and respect of their target audience, big pharma firms will find it more difficult to market their products and services and earn revenues.

Joshua Pirestani is the president and founder of the American Pharmacy Purchasing Alliance.