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Evaluation of non-research payments from pharmaceutical companies to urologists in Japan between 2016 and 2019

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International Urogynecology Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the magnitude and trends in personal payments from pharmaceutical companies to urologists in Japan.

Methods

This cross-sectional study examined the personal payments made to urologists by the major pharmaceutical companies in Japan between 2016 and 2019. Descriptive analyses were performed on the payment data. All urologists board-certified by the Japanese Urological Association as of March 2022 were included in this study. Trends in personal payments were assessed using the population-averaged generalized estimating equations with panel data of per-physician personal payments.

Results

Among 7016 active board-certified urologists, 4962 (70.7%) accepted 53,070 payments totaling $36,424,239 for reimbursement of lecturing, writing, and consulting compensations from 66 pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019. The median payments per urologist receiving payments were $1714 [interquartile range(IQR): $700–$4583] in payment amounts and 4.0 (IQR: 2.0–10.0) in the number of payments. Only 1%, 5%, 10%, and 25% of top-paid urologists accepted 36.2%, 64.8%, 75.8%, and 90.1% of overall payments respectively. The payments per urologist and the number of payment contracts had annually increased over this period by 4.1% (95% CI: 2.3%–6.0%, p < 0.001) and 2.4% (95% CI: 1.2%–3.7%, p < 0.001), but there was no significant change in the number of urologists receiving payments, with a relative average annual change of 0.7% (95% CI: -0.15%–1.6%, p = 0.10) between 2016 and 2019.

Conclusion

Most urologists received personal payments for lecturing, consulting, and writing compensations from pharmaceutical companies in Japan. The payments from pharmaceutical companies had been increasing over the 4-year period. These payments were substantially concentrated on a small number of urologists.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current research are not publicly available as individual privacy could be compromised, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Tansa (formerly known as Waseda Chronicle) for providing payment data, and Mr.Takuto Sakaemura, an undergraduate student from the Faculty of Applied Science, the Simon Fraser University, and Ms. Megumi Aizawa, a graduate student at Tokyo Institute of Technology, for collecting and cross-checking the payment data.

Funding

This study was funded in part by the Medical Governance Research Institute. This non-profit enterprise receives donations from a dispensing pharmacy, Ain Pharmacies, Inc., and private individuals. This study also received support from Tansa (formerly known as the Waseda Chronicle), an independent non-profit news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. None of the entities providing financial support for this study contributed to the design, execution, data analyses, or interpretation of study findings and the drafting of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Governance Research Institute, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Anju Murayama, Hiroaki Saito, Sae Kamamoto, Haruki Shigeta, Erika Yamashita, Tetsuya Tanimoto & Akihiko Ozaki

  2. Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan

    Anju Murayama & Haruki Shigeta

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Soma Central Hospital, Soma City , Fukushima, Japan

    Hiroaki Saito

  4. Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka, Japan

    Sae Kamamoto

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Navitas Clinic Kawasaki, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa,, Japan

    Tetsuya Tanimoto

  6. Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan

    Akihiko Ozaki

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  1. Anju Murayama
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anju Murayama.

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Conflicts of interest

H.S. received personal fees from Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd outside the scope of the submitted work. A.O. and T.T. received personal fees from Medical Network Systems, a dispensing pharmacy, outside the scope of the submitted work. T.T. also received personal fees from Bionics Co. Ltd, a medical device company, outside the scope of the submitted work. Other remaining authors declared no financial conflicts of interest.

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Murayama, A., Saito, H., Kamamoto, S. et al. Evaluation of non-research payments from pharmaceutical companies to urologists in Japan between 2016 and 2019. Int Urogynecol J 34, 1285–1292 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-023-05463-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-023-05463-y

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