HIV/AIDS EDITION: THE CORPORATE REPUTATION OF PHARMA IN 2021

  

The Patient Perspective— HIV/AIDS edition The views of 168 cancer patient groups        PatientView is today publishing the results of its latest ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey—HIV/AIDS edition, now in its 9th year, and two years into the Covid-19 pandemic. Running between November 2021 to February 2022, the survey collected the opinions of 168 HIV/AIDS patient groups on the performance of the pharmaceutical industry during 2021. Patient groups possess a unique understanding of the needs of the patients, and represent the collated views of patients. Patient-group perspectives have become increasingly important to regulators that demand patient input into trial design and conduct, as well as into the evaluation of clinical outcomes. At the same time, many patient groups are also familiar with the complexities of pharma’s business—85% of the HIV/AIDS patient groups responding to the 2021 ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey worked or partnered with at least one pharma company that year. Continue reading for details on: ·         How PatientView measures pharma’s corporate reputation from a patient perspective; ·         The headline results of the 2021 survey, from the perspective of HIV/AIDS patient groups; ·         The companies included in the 2021 HIV/AIDS analysis; and ·         The profiles of 2021’s respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups. Contents and tables can be downloaded here METHODOLOGY PatientView’s annual online ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey measures various aspects of pharma’s performance—all from a patient and patient-group perspective. The survey’s questions to respondent patient groups fall into two areas: 1.         The performance of the pharma industry as a whole, compared to other healthcare industries, ―and for various activities of importance to patients. 2.       The performance of individual pharma companies (12 in total in the HIV/AIDS edition of the 2021 survey results). Companies are assessed by respondent patient groups for their performance across nine indicators of corporate reputation. A new, 10th indicator was added to the previous year’s survey (that of 2020), looking at companies’ support to patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. This indicator was retained in the 2021 survey [see chart below]. The nine indicators that measure pharma’s corporate reputation, from a patient perspective—plus a 10th indicator, looking at pharma’s patient support during the Covid-19 pandemic.   Respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups are asked to nominate the three companies they think “Best” at each of the indicators of corporate reputation   The 12 companies included in the HIV/AIDS arm of the 2021 ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ analyses: AbbVie I Bristol Myers Squibb I Gilead Sciences I GSK I Janssen I Merck & Co* I  Mylan I Roche** I Sandoz I Sanofi I Teva I ViiV Healthcare ·         * Known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada. ·         ** Known as Genentech in the United States, and as Chugai in Japan. Chart 1. The number of respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups familiar, or working, with the companies listed above [https://bit.ly/3aTuQbB]. Click here to read more about PatientView’s methodology for the ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ 2021 (published 2022). SUMMARY OF RESULTS FINDINGS AT INDUSTRY LEVEL The 168 HIV/AIDS patient groups responding to the 2021 ‘Corporate Reputation’ survey rated the pharma industry more favourably for corporate reputation than their predecessors in all previous years. 50% of 2021’s respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups stated that the industry had an “Excellent” or “Good” corporate reputation, against 47% saying the same in 2020—although both of these figures remain lower than those reported by patient groups of other therapy areas. In 2021, 59% of respondent patient groups from all therapy areas thought the pharma industry had an “Excellent” or “Good” corporate reputation. The pharmaceutical industry has always had to respond to an active and effective patient movement that represents people with HIV/AIDS. However, the recent increases in pharma’s corporate reputation over the last two years can, in part, be attributed to the industry’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 78% of 2021’s respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups judged the industry’s response to Covid-19 to be “Effective” or “Very effective”. Although pharma’s relationships with patient groups are wide ranging, funding became an existential issue for patient groups during the pandemic. In 2021, 65% of the 142 respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups working with pharma stated that they had received financial donations. 2020’s equivalent figure was 57%. Despite the higher approval ratings for pharma from the HIV/AIDS patient groups responding to the 2021 ‘Corporate Reputation’ survey, these patient groups also expressed concerns that the industry should be doing much more. Although pharma has made significant therapeutic advances over the past 40 years, the fact remains that almost 38 million people worldwide continue to live with HIV. International bodies have set the goal of ending the epidemic by 2030. The pharmaceutical industry has an important role to play in supporting these efforts, according to respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups, as follows: ·         Innovation: 68% of the HIV/AIDS patient groups responding to the 2021 ‘Corporate Reputation’ survey thought the industry “Excellent” or “Good” at innovation (versus 58% saying the same in 2020). Also in 2021, 72% of respondent HIV/AIDS groups considered the industry “Excellent” or “Good” at creating products of benefit to patients (versus 58% saying the same in 2020). Nonetheless, as the world aims to eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic, respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups call for further improvements to pharma’s drug treatments, so that people living with HIV/AIDS can take their medication with minimal difficulty (improve compliance), and, at the same time, enjoy a good quality of life. “Investigar en más fármacos y opciones terapéuticas, para la mejora de la calidad de vida de las personas. Invertir en vacunas tanto preventivas como terapéuticas. Mejorar los efectos secundarios de los fármacos y sus interacciones farmacológicas.” (“Investigate more drugs and therapeutic options to improve people’s quality of life. Invest in both preventive and therapeutic vaccines. Improve the side effects of drugs, and their drug interactions.”) —Regional HIV/AIDS patient group, Spain ·         Access to medicines: Just 33% of 2021’s respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups thought the industry “Excellent” or “Good” at helping to ensure equitable access to medicines. Of the estimated 37.7 million people living with HIV in 2020, only 75% were accessing anti-retroviral treatment—leaving 9.5 million individuals (predominantly in poorer countries) still waiting. In June 2021, UNAIDS issued a new global pledge “to end all inequalities faced by communities and people affected by HIV towards ending AIDS.” [https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2021/june/20210608_hlm-opens] “Facilitar o acesso aos medicamentos  à comunidade de baixa renda.”(“Facilitate access to medicines for the low-income community.”)—National HIV/AIDS patient group, Brazil ·         Drug pricing and transparency: Some respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups blame the current inequitable situation on the ineffective processes by which governments negotiate drug prices with pharma, and pharma’s lack of transparency in that process. Since 2013, respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups have consistently marked pharma down for its pricing policies—in 2021, only 18% thought the industry “Excellent” or “Good” at setting fair prices. Similarly, just 16% thought pharma “Excellent” or “Good” at being transparent about pricing. “Para efeitos de perceção da integridade, a indústria farmacêutica deveria flexibilizar as condições negociais, tendo em consideração a importância vital de alguns dos seus produtos no garante da sobrevivência das populações, nomeadamente através da conceção de patentes.” (“For the sake of the perception of integrity, the pharmaceutical industry should make its negotiating terms more flexible, taking into consideration the vital importance of some of its products in ensuring the survival of populations, specifically through the granting of patents.”) —International HIV/AIDS and hepatitis patient group, Portugal   COMPANY RANKINGS  The top-three pharma companies out of 12 companies, ranked for their overall corporate reputation in 2021, assessed by respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups familiar with the company: ViiV Healthcare, 1st | Gilead Sciences, 2nd | and Janssen, 3rd. The top-three ‘big-pharma’ companies out of 7 companies, ranked for overall corporate reputation in 2021, assessed by respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups familiar with the company: Janssen, 1st | GSK, 2nd | and Merck &Co*, 3rd.  * known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada PROFILE OF 2021’S RESPONDENT HIV/AIDS PATIENT GROUPS Chart 2: Geographic location of respondent HIV/AIDS patient groups, 2021   PatientView would like to thank the 168 HIV/AIDS patient groups that gave up their time to respond to the ‘Corporate Reputation of Pharma’ survey 2021 (results published 2022).

New sperm-freezing technique dramatically improves viability of frozen sperm, and may allow safe use of sperm from HIV+ men

A new technique for freezing sperm can dramatically increase the viability of frozen sperm. In addition, as the technique does not involve the freezing of seminal plasma, it holds out the possibility of allowing sperm from HIV+ men to be used without the danger of transmitting the virus.

The technique has been developed by a team from Temuco (Chile) and Ulm (Germany), led by Professor Raul Sanchez (La Frontera University, Temuco, CHILE), and is presented at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility in Munich, Germany.

Currently, sperm is frozen slowly and then stored in liquid nitrogen at –160 °C. This technique allows recovery of around 30 to 40% activity. However the current technique has drawbacks, including loss of motility and vitality, and damage to the membrane

The new technique is called sperm vitrification (egg and embryo vitrification are already in use in fertility clinics). Sperm are centrifuged to remove the plasma components, and then resuspended in a sucrose solution before being plunged into liquid nitrogen to fast-freeze. The vitrified sperm can then be stored either in liquid nitrogen or in an ultra-cold deep freeze at -86ºC. This gives several advantages over the existing method, including a significant increase in motility of the rethawed sperm (77% motility versus 29% using current methods). In addition, it seems that the sperm are less damaged by the vitrification technique.

It means that a higher concentration of viable sperm can be recovered prior to IVF techniques such as ICSI, which will give a greater chance of fertilization.

As a by-product of the technique, the removal of the sperm plasma means that the technique will separate the sperm from many contaminating agents, such as HIV and other viruses, giving HIV+ men the chance to father children without the likelihood of passing on the virus to the mother and child.

Commenting, lead researcher Professor Sanchez said: “This work shows that we can preserve functional sperm via vitrification, which gives a greater chance of success for patients with low sperm counts. Conventional methods only preserves between 3%0 or 40% of the sperm viability, with the new methodology it is closer to 80%.

The other great advantage of this technique is that it can eliminate potential sources of infection such as AIDS or hepatitis b, which are present in seminal plasma. In this process we discard the seminal plasma, with the sperm being vitrified in culture medium. It has the potential to allow HIV+ men to have children without worrying about transmitting the virus”.

Commenting, Professor Ian Cooke of the IFFS said “This looks a very exciting technique, as it is much faster than the conventional slow-freeze procedure. In addition, the prospect of use with HIV+ patients has great potential, although we’d want to confirm the absence of residual HIV in sperm samples before going ahead”.

Craig David: "Tuberculosis affects real people, real families, real communities"‏

In a clip released today British R&B star Craig David talks with Dr Sizulu Moyo, a tuberculosis researcher at Stellenbosch University.
Against the backdrop of a busy research laboratory, Craig learns that lots of progress has been made and momentum gained in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis thanks to collaboration among partners as well as increased awareness and commitment from poor and rich countries alike, spurred by the link between tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS: tuberculosis is the leading infectious killer of people living with HIV.
Two key challenges mentioned by Dr Moyo are the need for sufficient funding to develop an effective vaccine and the need for tuberculosis patients to complete their course of treatment (which lasts 6 months or more) to keep the medicines effective: incomplete treatment will lead to the tuberculosis bacteria becoming drug-resistant. While people are aware that they should finish treatment, she explains, "it's a complicated scenario; there are many things that come into play…We need understand where they are coming from. They are people with lives, with families."
Despite her laboratory surroundings Dr Moyo remains very aware of the real-life implications of her research: "It's not only about the documents that you read, any nice brochures, it's not about the presentations that you make… TB affects real people, real families and real communities."

**Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Sbt5sgAuc