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Observational Study
. 2023 Jan 27;102(4):e32776.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000032776.

Observational study of financial and non-financial conflicts of interest among the Japanese government advisory board members concerning coronavirus disease 2019

Hanano Mamada  1   2 , Anju Murayama  1   3 , Akihiko Ozaki  1   4 , Takanao Hashimoto  1   5 , Hiroaki Saito  6 , Toyoaki Sawano  7 , Erika Yamashita  1 , Divya Bhandari  1 , Sunil Shrestha  8 , Tetsuya Tanimoto  1   9
Affiliations
Observational Study

Observational study of financial and non-financial conflicts of interest among the Japanese government advisory board members concerning coronavirus disease 2019

Hanano Mamada et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

This cross-sectional analysis aimed to assess the extent of conflicts of interest among the Japanese government coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) advisory board members and elucidate the accuracy of conflicts of interest (COI) disclosure and management strategies. Using the payment data from all 79 pharmaceutical companies in Japan between 2017 and 2019 and direct research grants from the Japanese government between 2019 and 2020, we evaluated the extent of financial and non-financial COI among all 20 Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board members. The Ethic Committee of the Medical Governance Research Institute approved this study. Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board members were predominantly male (75.0%) and physicians (50.0%). Between 2019 and 2020, 2 members (10.0%) received a total of $819,244 in government research funding. Another 5 members (25.0%) received $532,127 in payments, including $276,722 in personal fees, from 31 pharmaceutical companies between 2017 and 2019. The average value of the pharmaceutical payments was $9155 (standard deviation: $12,975). Furthermore, neither the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare nor the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat disclosed financial or non-financial COI with industry. Additionally, the government had no policies for managing COI among advisory board members. This study found that the Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board had financial and non-financial COI with pharmaceutical companies and the government. Furthermore, personal communication received as part of this research indicated that there were no rigorous COI management strategies for the COVID-19 advisory board members. Any government must ensure the independence of scientific advisory boards by implementing more rigorous and transparent management strategies that require the declaration and public disclosure of all COI.

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Conflict of interest statement

As non-financial conflicts of interest, Anju Murayama, Akihiko Ozaki, Hiroaki Saito, Toyoaki Sawano, and Tetsuya Tanimoto have several research articles related to the conflicts of interest among healthcare professionals in Japan. Hiroaki Saito received personal fees from TAIHO Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd outside the scope of the submitted work. Akihiko Ozaki and Tetsuya Tanimoto received personal fees from Medical Netwo. rk Systems outside the scope of the submitted work. Tetsuya Tanimoto also received personal fees from Bionics Co. Ltd, outside the scope of the submitted work. This does not alter our adherence to Medicine policies on sharing data and materials. How to cite this article: Mamada H, Murayama A, Ozaki A, Hashimoto T, Saito H, Sawano T, Yamashita E, Bhandari D, Shrestha S, Tanimoto T. Observational study of financial and non-financial conflicts of interest among the Japanese government advisory board members concerning coronavirus disease 2019. Medicine 2023;102:4(e32776). This cross-sectional analysis aimed to assess the extent of conflicts of interest among the Japanese government coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) advisory board members and elucidate the accuracy of conflicts of interest (COI) disclosure and management strategies. Using the payment data from all 79 pharmaceutical companies in Japan between 2017 and 2019 and direct research grants from the Japanese government between 2019 and 2020, we evaluated the extent of financial and non-financial COI among all 20 Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board members. The Ethic Committee of the Medical Governance Research Institute approved this study. Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board members were predominantly male (75.0%) and physicians (50.0%). Between 2019 and 2020, 2 members (10.0%) received a total of $819,244 in government research funding. Another 5 members (25.0%) received $532,127 in payments, including $276,722 in personal fees, from 31 pharmaceutical companies between 2017 and 2019. The average value of the pharmaceutical payments was $9155 (standard deviation: $12,975). Furthermore, neither the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare nor the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat disclosed financial or non-financial COI with industry. Additionally, the government had no policies for managing COI among advisory board members. This study found that the Japanese government COVID-19 advisory board had financial and non-financial COI with pharmaceutical companies and the government. Furthermore, personal communication received as part of this research indicated that there were no rigorous COI management strategies for the COVID-19 advisory board members. Any government must ensure the independence of scientific advisory boards by implementing more rigorous and transparent management strategies that require the declaration and public disclosure of all COI.

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