This project draws on the longstanding collaboration international collaboration between social scientists from the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy (CASP) at the University of Bath, led by Dr Piotr Ozieranski, with healthcare professionals from the Medical Governance Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan, led by Dr Akihiko Ozaki.

We aim to investigate the transparency of collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare sector. Our focus on transparency steps from its role the key policy approach to addressing financial conflicts of interest that can undermine patient safety and care which sometimes can arise from these collaborations.

About this project

In this project, we are concentrating on Japan, a country which, when compared to the UK, has made significant progress in enhancing some aspects of transparency of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare sector, but not others.

So far, our collaborative research has relied primarily on examining the rules governing the disclosure of payments that pharmaceutical companies make to the healthcare sector as well as the patterns of the money flows between the two sides. This project combines these research methods with a new one – elite and expert interviews with people involved with such collaborations as well as those who set the rules through which these collaborations are governed.

To facilitate the collection of high-quality interview data a Japanese medical student will spend time with CASP at the University of Bath to receive bespoke training in qualitative research methods, including elite and expert interviews, and public policy analysis. The training will be delivered by Dr Ozieranski as the CASP Transparency Lead.

The student, together with other colleagues, will then conduct elite and expert interviews with relevant policy stakeholders in Japan to expand on the results of our earlier policy research, and to shed more light on how much the governance of transparency in Japan is similar or different to the arrangements in the UK. This part of the research will be overseen by Dr Ozaki, who is the leading expert on pharmaceutical policy in Japan, working closely with other rewnowned scholars and medical scientists based at the Medical Governance Research Institute, Japan.

Findings from this research will then inform research publications as well as a policy roundtable on conflicts of interest in healthcare organised by CASP, bringing together academic researchers, industry, patient organisations and policymakers from the UK and Japan.

Project team

University of Bath

• Dr Piotr Ozieranski
• Dr Theo Papadopoulos

Medical Governance Research Institute, Japan

• Dr Akihiko Ozaki
• Dr Hiroaki Saito
• Dr Tetsuya Tanimoto

Planned project outputs

Our planned outputs include:

• a research and training visit by a Japanese medical student to CASP
• elite and expert interviews with stakeholders in pharmaceutical policy-making in Japan
• a policy roundtable on transparency and conflicts of interest in healthcare organised by the CASP, bringing together academic researchers, industry, patient organisations and policymakers from the UK and Japan
• a grant and paper writing workshop for the CASP and MEGRI researchers to facilitate the development of future joint projects