Evaluation of financial relationships between Japanese certified pediatric hematologist/oncologists and pharmaceutical companies: a cross‐sectional analysis of personal payments from pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019
Sae Kamamoto, Anju Murayama, Eiji Kusumi, Makoto Yoshida, Hiroaki Saito, Toyoaki Sawano, Erika Yamashita, Tetsuya Tanimoto, Akihiko Ozaki
Abstract
This cross-sectional study evaluated the magnitude of personal payments made by pharmaceutical companies to pediatric hematologist-oncologists (PHOs) board-certified by the Japanese Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (JSPHO), using publicly disclosed data. Among all 307 PHOs, 215 (70.0%) PHOs received $916 703 personal payments from 54 pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019 in total. Median four-year payments per PHO was $1440 (interquartile range, $523-$4015). Payments per PHO significantly increased during the study period, by 23.8% (95% confidence interval: 15.3%-32.8%, P < 0.001) annually. Furthermore, leading PHOs, including university professors, society board members, and clinical practice guideline authors, received far larger personal payments from the companies.