Pharmaceutical Payments to Japanese Board-Certified Infectious Disease Specialists: A Four-year Retrospective Analysis of Payments from 92 Pharmaceutical Companies between 2016 and 2019

Objective Conflict of interest with pharmaceutical companies is one of the most contentious issues in infectious diseases. However, there is a lack of whole picture of detailed payments in Japan. Study Design and Setting This retrospective study assessed financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and all infectious disease specialists board-certified by the Japanese Association for Infectious Disease, using publicly disclosed payment data from 92 pharmaceutical companies. Descriptive analyses were conducted for the payments. Payment trends were examined by the generalized estimating equations. Results Of 1614 board-certified infection disease specialists, 1,055 (65.4%) received a total of $17,784,070 payments, corresponding to 21,680 cases between 2016 and 2019. The mean±SD and median (interquartile range: IQR) were $16,857±$45,010 and $3,183 ($938□$11,250) in payments. All board executive members of Japanese Association of Infectious Disease received higher payments averaging $163,792. There were no significant changes in payments per specialist (annual change rate: -1.4% [95% CI: -4.7□2.3%], p=0.48) and prevalence of specialists with payments (annual change rate: -1.4% [95% CI: -3.1%□0.2%], p=0.093) over the four years. Conclusion There were substantial financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and board-certified infectious disease specialists in Japan. Such personal payments must be restricted to a certain level to avoid potential conflict of interest.