US drug firms' reputation improves

The reputation of the US drug industry has shown significant improvement for a second year in succession. Never-theless, the public perception of the industry remains poor. Every year, Harris Interactive measures public opinion concerning approximately 20 industries, specifically asking if respondents believe that the industry is doing a "good job" or a "bad job" of serving their customers.

In 2006, the survey covered 21 industries, supermarkets coming top (91% approval) and the tobacco industry at the bottom (34% approval). The drug industry in net approval terms - the difference between respondents saying that the industry did a "good" and a "bad" job - has declined since 1997 from +60% to +25%. However the low-point was reached in 2004 with a score of -4% that year. For 2005 the rating was +13%. Harris Interactive rated drug firms' public approval as "the most volatile of any industry."