In another sign that pricing has become the Achilles heel of the pharmaceutical industry, a survey finds that just 14% of patient groups in the U.K. believe drug makers have done a good or excellent job in pricing their medicines fairly. And pricing was also cited by the groups as one of two of the most important issues on which drug makers should focus in order to improve their reputations.

The backdrop to the findings is an ongoing tug of war between the pharmaceutical industry and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, an independent group that was established by the U.K. government in 1999 to decide which drugs are available on the U.K.’s National Health Service in England and Wales. A key determinant is whether a drug is cost effective.

Over the past few years, however, NICE has regularly rejected drugs based on cost. Although some drug makers have occasionally offered to lower prices, the dust ups over rejections have upset patient groups. Last fall, for instance, thousands of people signed an online petition urging Roche to lower the price of its Kadcyla breast cancer treatment after NICE rebuked the drug maker over its cost.

Such episodes prompted patient groups to say that more drug makers should offer discounts and price medicines “more affordably” to the NHS, according to PatientView, a research firm, which surveyed 1,150 patient groups in 58 countries between November and January, and broke out results from 73 groups based in the U.K. The groups, by the way, were asked to rate nine of the largest drug makers.

For more details, go to: http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/06/09/drug-makers-price-medicines-unfairly-u-k-patient-groups-say/