Objective:
To assess the financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies
and authors of the 2020 Japan College of Rheumatology Clinical Practice
Guideline for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis and to evaluate the
quality of evidence supporting the guideline recommendations.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study evaluated financial relationships between
all 27 authors of the CPG and pharmaceutical companies in Japan.
Personal payments from pharmaceutical companies to these authors between
2016 and 2020 were extracted from publicly disclosed database and each
pharmaceutical company. The quality of evidence supporting the CPG
recommendations was also assessed.
Results :
All 27 authors received personal payments from pharmaceutical companies,
totaling $3,683,048 over five years. The median and mean payments per
author were $101,624 and $136,409, respectively. Speaking
compensations accounted for more than 80% of all personal payments.
More than 77.8% (21 authors), 66.7% (18 authors), and 51.9% (14
authors) received more than $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000 in total
payments over the five years, respectively. Nevertheless, these
financial relationships between the CPG authors and pharmaceutical
companies were not disclosed. More than 81.8% of the CPG
recommendations were supported by low or very low-quality evidence. Of
strong recommendations, 66.7% were supported by low or very low-quality
evidence.
Conclusion :
Despite that all CPG authors received substantial amounts of personal
payments from pharmaceutical companies, these COIs were not disclosed in
the CPG. These findings underscore the urgent need for policy
interventions to enhance transparency, integrity, and reliability in the
development of clinical practice guidelines in Japan.