Overview and transparency of non-research payments to healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals from pharmaceutical companies in Japan: Analysis of payment data in 2016

•The non-research payment data of 71 Japanese pharmaceutical companies in 2016 were examined.•The total value of the non-research payments was 1.8 billion USD.•Of these payments, identifiable details (e.g. the timing and name of events and promoted drugs) were disclosed in only 33.0 %•One company did not provide data disclosure as required. To provide an overview of non-research pharmaceutical payments to healthcare organizations and professionals in Japan and evaluate data disclosure methods. We calculated the aggregated value of each category of non-research payments among all 71 Japanese pharmaceutical companies belonging to the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. Non-research payments were categorized into academic research support expenses (e.g. donations), lecture, manuscript/writing, and consulting/commissioning fees, information provision-related expenses, and other expenses. Data disclosure methods for academic research support and lecturing/writing/consulting fees were evaluated through 11 factors, such as availability of individual payment data, disclosure of characters and figures with machine encoding, and possibility of data download as digital files. The total value of non-research payments was US$1 762 119 513, with information provision-related expenses accounting for the largest proportion (US$1 138 049 361, 64.6 %). One company did not disclose individual payment data for academic research support and lecturing/writing/consulting and 31 (44.3%) of the remaining 70 demanded a registration for data access. Of the 70 companies disclosing data, 29 (41.4 %) disclosed characters and figures without machine encoding, and only 27 (38.6 %) allowed data download. Japanese healthcare organizations and professionals received significant amounts of non-research payments from pharmaceutical companies. Data disclosure methods did not provide adequate levels of transparency in these financial relationships.