http://www.edelman.com/post/warning-signs-for-pharma/

The 2016 Edelman TRUST BAROMETER shares disturbing news about a widening gap in trust in all major institutions between the informed public and mass population. While trust is generally rising among more educated, affluent audiences, trust levels have barely moved since the Great Recession in the remaining 85 percent representing the mass population in the 16^th year of our survey of more than 33,000 respondents.

The story for the healthcare industry is a cautionary tale and one that bears watching. At a global level, and using general population (informed public plus mass population) findings* with 28 countries surveyed, healthcare is near the bottom with a trust score of 61, just ahead of Telecommunications, Energy and Financial Services. In the U.S. it is tied for second to last with the automotive industry, and is doing just a little better than Financial Services, which although in last place has experienced a remarkable rebound in trust since the financial crisis.

Digging deeper into the industries that collectively represent healthcare and perceptions of the general population, there are warning signs for the pharmaceutical industry in particular. Consider this: while the moves may be small, trust has increased at a global level in four of the five health subsectors – Hospitals/Clinics, Consumer Health, Biotech and even Health Insurers, who were lower ranked among this peer set last year. Only trust in Pharmaceuticals has declined. And in the U.S., trust has increased in only two of the five subsectors, with both Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology declining by two points and Consumer Health remaining flat.

Put another way, global trust in those on the front lines of delivering care or on the shelf delivering value to consumers is on the rise, while trust in the research-based companies that deliver the innovation through these channels is declining. If these trends continue, we’ll experience a growing trust gap between those who do the innovating and those who deliver on innovation, in addition to the gap already evident between the informed public and mass population. Lesser trust in pharma and biotech companies carries with it broad implications for the ability to attract and keep employees, license to operate in the larger health and business ecosystem, and greater support for regulations that may threaten a license to lead.

Some takeaways for healthcare companies in general: