Conflict of Interest Disclosures (includes financial
disclosures):
For the financial conflicts of interest, Dr. Kusumi received personal
fees from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd outside the scope of the
submitted work. Dr. Saito received personal fees from TAIHO
Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd outside the scope of the submitted work. Drs.
Ozaki and Tanimoto received personal fees from Medical Network Systems
outside the scope of the submitted work. Dr. Tanimoto also received
personal fees from Bionics Co. Ltd, outside the scope of the submitted
work. Regarding non-financial conflicts of interest among the study
authors, all are engaged in ongoing research examining financial and
non-financial conflicts of interest among healthcare professionals and
pharmaceutical companies in Japan. Individually, Anju Murayama, Hiroaki
Saito, Toyoaki Sawano, Tetsuya Tanimoto, and Akihiko Ozaki have
contributed to several published studies assessing conflicts of interest
and quality of evidence among clinical practice guideline authors in
Japan and the United States. Among their previous articles, the authors
have self-cited several articles in this study to gain deeper insights
and explain the context of financial conflicts of interest among
healthcare professionals in Japan. Dr. Kusumi was a hematology
specialist board certificated by the Japanese Society of Hematology. The
other authors have no example conflicts of interest to disclose.
Funding/Support: This study was funded in part by the Medical
Governance Research Institute. This non-profit research organization
receives donations from a pharmaceutical company, Ain Pharmacies, and
other organizations, and private individuals. This study also received
support from Tansa, an independent non-profit news organization
dedicated to investigative journalism.
Role of Funder/Sponsor (if any): None of the entities providing
financial support for this study contributed to the design, execution,
data analyses, interpretation of study findings, and manuscript
drafting.