Pharma PR

Speaking of PR Week, the august publication has been dealing out a kicking to the PR arms of the pharmaceutical industry in its latest leader column. The criticism comes in wake of negative publicity around Seroxat and the declaration by Procter & Gamble spokesman Mark Chakravarty that, “There is a high suspicion of the pharma industry.” The industry’s long-standing image problems are well known despite its history of containing and, in some cases, eradicating some extremely unpleasant diseases and conditions. And part of the reason for them may be the continuing shortage of high quality specialist communicators that we have covered in past issues. Until the sector can find ways of attracting more of the right calibre people or of feeding them into the career development pipeline, expect image issues to run and run.