My name is Thomas Fife-Schaw, Director of Advisory at Ipsos Corporate Reputation.

I'm delighted to introduce the 2024 edition of the ABPI Ipsos Pharma Reputation Index.

This year, we've again looked into what the great British public and healthcare professionals know, think and feel about pharmaceutical companies operating in the UK.

What you'll see here is a mix of quant and qual insights that explores perceptions of this industry.

We've looked at what people really know about the innovative pharma industry and if what they know has shifted over time.

Specifically, we're interested to see how this knowledge of the sector, or indeed a lack of it, shapes perceptions of it and what drives that.

Importantly, do people feel differently about pharma compared with other sectors?

What does that mean for the industry?

And judging how people feel about industries is tricky in the case of pharma, arguably more so than others, given the complex interplay between rational and emotional views that people have of a sector whose innovation past and present, have an impact on all of us and those we care for.

Our feelings about this sector are based on myriad sources of information, experiences, assumptions, memories and more.

As you'll see in this year's index, we know that the views of citizens and stakeholders alike have not fundamentally changed across the four years we've been running this research.

The sector's reputation for scientific prowess and expertise is not challenged.

People have a very clear idea of an innovative sector that discovers, researches, develops and produces safe and effective medicines that people need.

There is a lot of faith that the sector is reliably good at what it does, but other perceptions haven't changed.

The depth of familiarity with what innovative pharma companies do has not shifted.

Few spontaneously make a distinction between companies that produce consumer medicines that they can get with

their groceries or over the counter as a pharmacist. Less visible to them are the therapies and innovations at the cutting edge of medical science, the main exception being the development of COVID vaccines during the pandemic.

In some ways, for industry execs, this may be reassuring to a degree.

The sector's reputation is stable and it is broadly positive, but it isn't immune to risk.

With limited public knowledge, other actors may step in to fill the void in their what they know and understand about it.

People are increasingly likely to recall information about the sector from social media and from their peers.

The credibility and the accuracy of the information they see is very hard to judge.

And in an age of myths and disinformation, the sector needs to ensure its voice is heard and that it gets recognition for its successes and its strengths as well as dispelling myths which can be dangerous when it comes to health.

Furthermore, pharma's reputational weaknesses are also persistent.

Lots of things are battling for people's attention and because pharma is arguably distant to most people most of the time, good reason it isn't often seen as transparent.

This perceived opacity shapes people's attitudes on thorny and emotive topics such as drug pricing or access to medicines and vaccines.

Though some attitudes will be hard to shift.

What is clear is that the industry needs to find ways to be more visible and as we often say in reputation research, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

We hope this index provides food for thought and act as a catalyst for the industry to explore what it needs to do as well as say to shift public and professional perceptions of it.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do get in touch.

Thank you.