Achievements so far
Achievements over four years
Our public database discloses the payment data from pharmaceutical companies for four fiscal years (2016 to 2019). In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology used this database for its survey. As a result, they announced that there were seven university professors who earned more than 20 million Japanese yen in 2016, and they expressed their intention to ask the National Diet to require universities to review their regulations on dual employment and ethics.
The following are the reports and research we have conducted using this database.
Reports
- In 2016, 110 doctors received more than 10 million Japanese yen annually in honoraria and other payments from pharmaceutical companies, totaling 26.6 billion yen. (June 8, 2018)
- In 2017, 27.3 billion Japanese yen was made to individual doctors and 35.7 billion Japanese yen to medical associations and university laboratories. (May 26, 2019)
- A survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology found that 29 doctors working at universities received more than 15 million Japanese yen from pharmaceutical companies. Out of them, ten were diabetes specialists and eight were cardiologists. (November 7, 2019)
- A professor at Kagawa University received over 19 million yen in a year from six pharmaceutical companies for dementia drugs. In his paper, he "fudged" his evaluation of a dementia drug from Daiichi Sankyo. (October 30, 2020)
Medical Papers
- he Japanese Association of Medical Sciences made a “Request for transparency in relations with companies and other parties involved in the development of clinical practice guidelines”. (October 30, 2019) The following three papers were cited in this request.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2733427
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2731682
https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(19)30417-3/fulltext -
The “Diovan case” is the most famous example of research misconduct related to payments made to doctors by pharmaceutical companies in Japan. It revealed that many of the authors of the clinical research papers involved in the Diovan case were still receiving manuscript writing fees, lecture fees, and consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies three years after the Diovan case was uncovered. (May 17, 2019)
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2733427
Symposiums and other events
- Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) Asian Congress in Korea (October 2018)
- GIJN World Congress in Germany (September 2019)
- Online symposium "Are Doctors Cogs in the Pharmaceutical Industry?" (August 8, 2020)
https://youtu.be/R7UDDFs3zsM - 15th Annual Symposium of “Medical Reforms Promoting Practical Solutions from the Field” (November 7, 2020)