PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Institutional conflicts of interest (ICOIs) with pharmaceutical companies can bias internal operation of healthcare organizations. Naturally, a scholarship donation-which is a donation scheme unique to Japan, provided to healthcare organizations and their subunits to encourage educational and academic activities related to the development of new drugs-fall into the ICOI category. While anecdotal evidence exists that scholarship donations have been used as bribes by pharmaceutical companies, there has been little case study research that would illuminate the workings of this \"gray area\" mechanism. From this perspective, we offer an in-depth analysis of a recent scandal involving the Department of Clinical Anesthesiology, Mie University and Ono Pharmaceutical, where a scholarship donation was used by a pharmaceutical company to increase the prescription of one of its key drugs at a hospital department. Available evidence also suggests that a professor based within the department originally requested a scholarship donation from the company, which became an initial trigger of the scandal. We argue that by scrutinizing scholarship donations we can gain insight into problems specific to ICOIs between the pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare sector in Japan. In addition, scholarship donations can be understood as a form of \"gifts\" which have been found to underpin certain forms of pharmaceutical companies\' promotional activities in Japan but also in other countries. We conclude by highlighting potential institutional remedies, which may alleviate ICOIs and corrupt behavior affecting the healthcare sector.
摘要：
与制药公司的机构利益冲突(ICOI)可能会使医疗保健组织的内部运作产生偏差。自然,奖学金捐赠-这是日本独有的捐赠计划，提供给医疗保健组织及其分支机构，以鼓励与新药开发有关的教育和学术活动，属于ICOI类别。虽然有证据表明奖学金捐赠被制药公司用作贿赂，很少有案例研究能够阐明这种“灰色地带”机制的运作方式。从这个角度来看,我们对最近涉及临床麻醉科的丑闻进行了深入分析，三重大学和小野制药，一家制药公司使用奖学金捐赠来增加医院部门的一种关键药物的处方。现有证据还表明，该部门的一名教授最初要求该公司提供奖学金，这成为丑闻的最初导火索。我们认为，通过审查奖学金捐赠，我们可以深入了解日本制药公司和医疗保健行业之间ICOI的具体问题。此外,奖学金捐赠可以理解为“礼物”的一种形式，在日本和其他国家，这些礼物被发现是某些形式的制药公司促销活动的基础。最后，我们强调了潜在的制度补救措施，这可能会缓解影响医疗保健行业的ICOI和腐败行为。
