Financial Relationships Between Pharmaceutical Companies and Rheumatologists in Japan Between 2016 and 2019

Abstract

Backgrounds: Given the increasing number of novel and expensive drugs for rheumatoid diseases, the financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and rheumatologists could be prevalent and substantial. However, little was known about the information in Japan.Methods: Using payment data publicly disclosed by 92 major pharmaceutical companies, we evaluated the financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and rheumatologists who were board certified by the Japan College of Rheumatology between 2016 and 2019. The trends in payments were estimated by the generalized estimating equations with 4-year payment data. Differences in payments between general and leading rheumatologists including the board members, clinical practice guideline authors, and medical journal editors were assessed.Results: Of the board-certified rheumatologists, 70.7% (3563 of 5038) received a total of $55,246,485 in personal payments for lecturing, writing, and consulting from 79 pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019. The median payments per rheumatologist receiving payments were $3447 (interquartile range, $1124-$11,974) in payment amounts. There were increasing trends in the payments per rheumatologist and the number of rheumatologists with payments, with average yearly change rates of 5.9% (95% confidence interval, 3.9%-7.9%; p < 0.001) and 1.2% (95% CI, 0.3%-2.0%; p = 0.008). The leading rheumatologists such as the society board members, clinical practice guideline authors, and medical journal editors received much more payments than other rheumatologists. Conclusion:Most rheumatologists increasingly received personal payments for lecturing, consulting, and writing reimbursements from pharmaceutical companies in Japan. These payments were significantly concentrated on rheumatologists in authoritative and influential positions.

Pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified dermatologists: a 4-year retrospective analysis of personal payments from pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019

“…Notably, we found that proportion of physicians receiving personal payments in dermatology was the lowest among previously documented specialties 4 – 8 , 28 . The proportions of physicians receiving payments ranged from 64.7% in hematology 5 to 70.7% in oncology 7 in Japan.…”

“…As for a payment which we could not verify, we excluded the payment from the analysis. The detailed procedure was noted previously 5 , 11 , 28 . Information on whether dermatologists work in facilities accredited by the JDA for the use of biologics was collected from the JDA webpage.…”

Cross-sectional analysis of pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified gastroenterologists between 2016 and 2019

“…As our payment data were limited to the reimbursement for lecturing, consulting and writing, and the number of specialists was the largest in gastroenterology, the prevalence of gastroenterologists with payments per physician was lower than that of other specialists. 10 12 13 41 42 …”

“…The Gini index ranges from 0 to 1, and the greater the Gini index, the greater the disparity in the distribution of payments on a gastroenterologist basis. 10 15 39 …”

“…7 This payment disclosure by pharmaceutical companies enabled the exploration of financial relationships between healthcare professionals and Open access pharmaceutical companies with detailed payments in several specialties. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Similar to other specialties, [14][15][16][17] gastroenterology has attracted significant financial attention from the global pharmaceutical industry. The global market size of gastroenterology diseases is estimated to continue growing from US$37.6 billion in 2022 18 due to a growth in the number of patients and the introduction of various novel treatments.…”