pharmaceutical-industry

This 2015 doctoral thesis by Juan Francisco Hernández before the University of Utrecht covers the various aspects of trust in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities and doctors are major stakeholders of the drug development and evaluating system. Trust among these parties is important for the sustainability of the system. However, the concept of trust has been variably defined. In this thesis, the author aims to develop a definition of the concept of trust and to illustrate its role in the interaction among major stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector.

Dr. Hernandez performs a metanarrative review of the literature, searching for articles on trust through three different databases and through cross-references. In 95 articles cited by the author, two components of trust can be distinguished: the vulnerability and competence component. He combines these components in a relational definition of trust in the pharmaceutical sector as:

• the willingness to assume a position of vulnerability in relation to the provision of care and the management and use of medicines together with
• the reliance on the competence of pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities and healthcare providers to perform the tasks assigned to them

The two-component definition is used to clarify trust in the context of drug development and use. In the interactions between stakeholders of the pharmaceutical sector, trust is a critical relational characteristic that contributes to an endurable, collaborative, and sustainable pharmaceutical system. The components of trust in the author’s definition for this context, and the conception of trust as a relational characteristic can be useful in further analyzing the influence of trust.

(c) Juan Francisco Hernández

Photo: Anastasia Dulgier (via Unsplash)