DrugNewsWire.com discusses a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) titled “Recapturing the Vision: Restoring Trust in the Pharmaceutical Industry by Translating Expectations into Actions.”

According to the report:

– Three out of four (74 percent) consumers underestimate the average financial investment required to research and develop a new drug by more than 50 percent.

– Consumers are split between believing that pharmaceutical companies consider important unmet medical needs when deciding to develop a new drug (55 percent) instead of choosing to develop “me-too” and “lifestyle” drugs with the greatest sales potential (45 percent). This compares to 71 percent of industry stakeholders and 91 percent of pharmaceutical executives, respectively, who say health needs are a top priority for pharmaceutical companies.

– 94 percent of consumers and 81 percent of industry stakeholders said that drug companies are too aggressive in promoting unapproved uses of their product. Fewer than half (47 percent) of pharmaceutical company executives agreed.

– 62 percent of stakeholders agreed that drug companies often manipulate or suppress negative clinical trial results to maximize sales. Four out of five pharmaceutical executives disagreed.

– More than seven in 10 stakeholders (73 percent) agreed that drug companies spend too much money and effort attempting to prevent generic drugs from competing with their branded products. Consumers strongly agreed that drug companies should be working with generic drug manufacturers to make generics available upon expiration of their branded drug’s patent.

Here’s a PR tip for Big Pharma: The best way to restore people’s faith is to start telling them the truth.