TOKYO - In an effort to avert unethical and potentially illegal transactions between medical practitioners and pharmaceutical and medical device companies, Japan's medical societies have been trying to introduce conflict of interest guidelines; yet to date, only about one-fifth of the more than 100 societies have issued such standards, according to an official at the Japanese Association of Medical Societies.

To date, 21.4 percent of JAMS 108 member societies have conflict of interest guidelines that they drafted and introduced voluntarily, JAMS spokesman Kazuko Imagawa told PharmAsia News.

"Japanese society is rapidly changing to one in which accountability and responsibility are as vital as good relationships," she said. "The reality is Japan is way behind the United States and European countries on this front."

The finding was based on a survey of 100-plus medical societies conducted by the Mainichi newspaper in June 2010, Imagawa said. Another 22.4 percent of societies said they would prepare draft guidelines by next March, while 33.6 percent said that they had no plans to set a timeline for drafting guidelines, according to the survey.

In a further revelation, the survey showed that only about 3 percent of societies said they would urge their member medical practitioners to voluntarily declare, at medical and academic conferences, any conflicts of interests when they release clinical research and development results, while 33.6 percent said they would do so in releasing an article in a medical journal or other print media.

The Importance Of Being Ethical

Etsuko Nagayama, an editor at the Mainichi newspaper who announced the results at the JAMS seminar on conflicts of interest July 16, emphasized the importance of outlining these ethical considerations for medical practitioners who conduct clinical research in collaboration with industry because the outcome could have an enormous impact on the development of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, as well as other medical services.

Medical society activities need to be as transparent and neutral as possible, she stressed, while adding that in Japan, medical universities are imposing strict conflict rules.

Imagawa said JAMS members decided to draft model guidelines and the association would prod all member societies to introduce similar standards as soon as possible.

In Japanese medical parlance, a conflict of interest refers to medical practitioners receiving monetary or other benefits, such as scholarships, donations and contributions, pre-IPO stock shares, and speech fees, from companies and/or individuals in conjunction with joint clinical research between the two sides.

Japanese law has no provision to punish such acts, which is why JAMS considers voluntary guidelines so important.

- Toshio Aritake (pharmasia@elsevier.com)

Only One-fifth Of Japanese Medical Societies Have Conflict Of Interest Guidelines

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