Transparency Guidelines for Relationships between Corporate Activities and Medical Institutions Q1. Why are transparency guidelines necessary?
Answer
The member companies of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Japan (PMAJ) have established a voluntary standard, the "Transparency Guidelines," and disclose their costs to medical institutions and physicians to ensure that the costs they provide to medical institutions and physicians as compensation for outsourcing services do not influence their judgment in any way.
Voluntary Standards "Transparency Guidelines
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Japan (PMAJ) aims to contribute to the improvement of people's health and welfare through the development of innovative and highly useful drugs and the sound growth of the pharmaceutical industry.
Cooperative activities between industry and academia are indispensable for medical and pharmaceutical research associated with the development of new drugs, their practical application, and the spread of the proper use of pharmaceuticals. However, as these collaborative activities become more and more active, situations may arise where medical institutions and medical professionals are deeply involved with specific companies and products, and we cannot deny the possibility that they may have some influence on the decisions of medical institutions and medical professionals. As a life-related industry, the pharmaceutical industry in Japan is greatly involved in the lives and health of patients and the public, and is under the universal health insurance system.