With the increasing importance of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues in the global pharmaceutical industry, patient groups are becoming more concerned about the ESG performance of pharmaceutical companies。 On the one hand, the EU will implement the “Double Materiality Assessment” (DMA) from 2025, which requires companies to measure and report on the impact of their ESG activities on stakeholders, including patients. On the other hand, patient organizations have also begun to actively evaluate the ESG practices of pharmaceutical companies, which not only affects the reputation of the company, but also affects the trust and willingness of patients to cooperate with the pharmaceutical company.
How patient groups assess the ESG performance of pharmaceutical companies
A recent survey by PatientView, a research firm dedicated to patient perspectives, shows that patient groups are increasingly interested in ESG issues and are openly evaluating pharmaceutical companies. For the 2023/24 survey, PatientView collected responses from 701 patient groups across 201 disease areas from 74 countries. According to the survey results, the vast majority of the patient groups surveyed believe that “environmental E”, “social S” and “G governance” are important to them. Among them, social S and G governance issues are the most concerned: 94% of patient groups say that social impact performance is important to them, 88% believe that the company’s treatment standards are important, compared to 67% of environmental performance. This reflects that patients are more expecting pharmaceutical companies to demonstrate good performance in social responsibility and ethical governance.
ESG performance plays a key role in the decision-making of patient groups and pharmaceutical companies. More than half of the patient groups said they “often” or “sometimes” consider ESG when considering a partnership with a pharmaceutical company. Specifically, about 83% of patient groups surveyed by PatientView regularly or sometimes consider companies’ efforts to address social issues.
However, due to the “anti-ESG” social atmosphere in the United States in recent years, the enthusiasm of American patient groups to participate in such ESG assessments is relatively low, and the number of responses is lower than the average of other PatientView studies in the United States. Even so, in the world as a whole, patient perception has become a force to be reckoned with in evaluating the ESG performance of pharmaceutical companies. Notably, PatientView’s ranking of 15 large pharmaceutical companies with a clear ESG agenda showed that Roche and Gilead Sciences ranked among the top performers in overall ESG performance based on patient perspectives. This means that some companies have achieved high recognition for their ESG efforts in the patient community, leading them in reputational excellence over their peers.
Pharmaceutical companies interact with patient groups: moving from treatment to ESG partnerships
Despite the significant increase in ESG investment in the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, many companies’ interactions with patient groups are still centered on therapeutics and pharmaceuticals . Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies have worked with patient organizations to focus on areas directly related to the product, such as the provision of drug support, disease education, or public donations. However, patient groups have come to expect more from companies than the drugs themselves. According to the PatientView survey, patient organizations generally believe that pharmaceutical companies should have a broader role: to help improve patient access to care, improve the quality of services provided, and actively work to eliminate health inequalities. In fact, these demands are highly consistent with the social responsibility goals in ESG, and they are also the expectations of the patient community for pharmaceutical companies to carry out ESG actions.
In other words, the proper use of ESG strategies can be a new opportunity to strengthen patient trust. By working more closely with patient groups within an ESG framework, pharmaceutical companies can demonstrate that they value the needs and values of patients, thereby enhancing mutual trust. PatientView’s analysis of patient group opinion found that in order to effectively engage in the ESG activities of pharmaceutical companies, patient organizations are most likely to see improvements in two areas:
- Building closer partnerships (43%): This includes building and maintaining long-term relationships with patient groups, deepening connections, and co-designing ESG-related initiatives. This shows that patient groups want to be partners in corporate ESG strategies, rather than passive objects.
- Demonstrate concrete actions and clear communication (54%): Patient organizations are calling on pharmaceutical companies to demonstrate their ESG commitments (e.g. investing in addressing specific social/health issues) and to communicate these measures in a clear and patient-friendly manner. At the same time, a focus on improving treatment and care is also part of the appeal. The patient community believes that their trust in the company can only be improved when they see practical actions and results.
New challenges and global ESG trends brought about by EU DMA
At the policy level, the EU’s Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) is setting a new threshold for ESG practices in the pharmaceutical industry. DMA is a core principle under the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to consider both “financial materiality” and “impact materiality” when disclosing sustainability information from 2025 onwards (EU Adopts Long-Awaited Mandatory ESG Reporting Standards). This means that pharmaceutical companies must assess the financial impact of ESG issues and the environmental and social impacts of their business (including patient populations) and treat both as material disclosures (EU Adopts Long-Awaited Mandatory ESG Reporting Standards). )。 In the past, companies focused on the risks and opportunities of ESG for their own operations (single importance), but now they need to report on the impact of the company on external social stakeholders at the same time. For the pharmaceutical industry, this change is a direct indication of the importance of patients: from product development and pricing policies to philanthropic programs, what really improves the well-being of patients and communities will be the focus of evaluation in the future.
The implementation of the EU DMA is seen as a bellwether for global ESG governance trends. In addition to the EU, countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the UK are also considered likely to follow suit by adopting similar mandatory ESG reporting and dual materiality requirements. This means that companies will face stricter ESG disclosures and scrutiny in major markets around the world. As the pharmaceutical industry is a highly international industry, large pharmaceutical companies often set foot in the markets of Europe, the United States and Asia at the same time, so it is crucial to lay out the mechanisms and data collection required for dual materiality assessment in advance to comply with the new local regulations.
Conclusion: From reputation to competitiveness, ESG condenses the new value of patient trust
In the face of growing patient concerns about ESG, the pharmaceutical industry is adjusting its pace and responding in a more proactive and transparent manner. PatientView’s survey and toolkit shows that the patient community is willing to measure the quality of pharmaceutical companies by their ESG performance, and is willing to reflect this in partnerships. For companies, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity to build stronger relationships of trust and strengthen corporate reputations by connecting more closely with patients through ESG strategies. At the same time, the evolution of the regulatory environment (e.g., the EU DMA) is incorporating patient impact into the hard indicators of corporate sustainability reporting, further promoting the industry to integrate the patient perspective into the core of ESG.
Cited Data :
- PatientView, Press Release: “Pharma Companies, ESG and Patient Groups” Toolkit, February 2025.
- PatientView, “Pharma and ESG: The Patient Perspective 2024” survey results, February 2025.
- PatientView, “Pharma and ESG: The Patient Perspective 2024” Company Ranking Summary, February 2025 ().
- Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, EU Adopts Long-Awaited Mandatory ESG Reporting Standards, 2023 (EU Adopts Long-Awaited Mandatory ESG Reporting Standards)。
- PatientView website, the company’s top management’s view of the patient’s perspective (PatientView | Patient Focused Research, Publishing & Consultancy)。
