Pharmaceutical Payments to Japanese Board‐Certified Head and Neck Surgeons Between 2016 and 2019

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the magnitude, prevalence, and trend of the financial relationship between Japanese head and neck surgeons and pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019. STUDY DESIGN: Cross‐sectional analysis. SETTING: Japan. METHODS: This study evaluated personal payments concerning lecturing, consulting, and writing paid by 92 major pharmaceutical companies to all Japanese head and neck surgeons board‐certified by the Japan Society for Head and Neck Surgery between 2016 and 2019. The payments were descriptively analyzed and payment trend were assessed using population‐averaged generalized estimating equations. Further, the payments to board executive board members with specialist certification were also evaluated separately. RESULTS: Of all 443 board‐certified head and neck surgeons in Japan, 365 (82.4%) received an average of $6443 (standard deviation: $12,875), while median payments were $2002 (interquartile ranges [IQR] $792‐$4802). Executive board specialists with a voting right received much higher personal payments (median $26,013, IQR $12,747‐$35,750) than the non‐executive specialists (median $1926, IQR $765‒$4134, p < .001) and the executive board specialists without a voting right (median $4411, IQR $963‐$5623, p = .015). The payments per specialist and prevalence of specialists with payments annually increased by 11.4% (95% CI: 5.8%‐17.2%; p < .001) and 7.3% (95% CI: 3.8%‐11.0%; p < .001), respectively. CONCLUSION: There were increasingly widespread and growing financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies among head and neck surgeons in Japan, alongside of introduction of novel drugs. The leading head and neck surgeons received much higher personal payments from pharmaceutical companies, and no sufficient regulation was implemented by the society in Japan.