The Politics of Pharmaceuticals

by Momina Hanan, Associate Consultant MadlinHanna Consulting

“While in 2020 many healthcare organisations saw their financial plans obliterated, patient behaviours radically shifted and virtual care exploded, in 2021 they will work to put the system back together,” said PwC researchers in December of 2020. Whilst it is blindingly obvious as to what was the cause to the above, what has not been as clear is why in 2022, the short-lived halo bestowed upon the UK pharmaceutical industry is now a thing of the past.  

Public Perception

The public image of pharmaceutical firms is one that is of course prone to change, but the power that 2019/2020 had on domestic pharma names such as AstraZeneca, arguably the leader in the fight against COVID-19, is a surprise. You would have expected to see strengthened government relationships, louder voices for pharma firms and less divisive political involvement in a sector which should simply be utilitarian in its workings.  Instead, we had BBC medical editor Fergus Walsh investigating whether nationalism was the buffer that ruined the shine of AstraZeneca at such a vital moment in history; so how did we get here?  

Brexit

One could point towards the mistakes of the EU and senior leaders in their fury against the UK, post-Brexit, which is evident in the personal attacks suffered by Pascal Soirot at a time when the priority was worldwide cost-free protection; hardly a targetable offence. During the height of the crisis, the European Commission threatened to halt vaccine exports of AstraZeneca and even when looking towards the booster vaccine, domestically, only 48,000 out of 37 million doses were the home-grown vaccine. Can AstraZeneca really blame politics? 

Preparedness

Well, yes. The science was as accurate as it could have been and AstraZeneca are not claiming to have been perfect but were they ready to take on a global pandemic? Was anyone? Pfizer had a dedicated vaccine system that had been running for decades with marketing teams, a well-directed sales force and a mature distribution system. AZ had been working on an adult flu vaccine but in no way were the communications teams equipped to deal with the volume and nor were they versed in handling academic institutions such as Oxford University. What has been interesting to note is the difference in the narrative; negative = AZ, positive = Oxford Uni. 

So where do we go from here? The theme spanning this blog series will be collaboration. With the shine of AZ being seemingly dulled by politics and not by the product, increased communication between politicians and the communicators for pharmaceutical firms should be the focus. With uncertainty looming around just how much the current government are actually listening to the experts, the phrase “don’t hold your breath” springs to mind… 

I’d like to give thanks to James Fitzpatrick Senior Director and Head of Public Affairs at Sanofi, Mike Archer UK Corporate Government Affairs Associate Director at AstraZeneca and Conn O’Neill Public Affairs Partner at Roche for their patience, time and invaluable insight into the world of healthcare through the lens of those in corporate affairs.

MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in corporate affairs, covering public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us on 020 8088 4102 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.