2024/09/21 by Takahiro Tabuchi, Koichiro Takenobu, Kota Katanoda · 1 voice
Business, Management and Accounting · #Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
paper · doi:10.1093/ntr/ntae221
openalex publication_date 2024/09/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23
On June 27, 2024, Braznell et al.(Braznell paper) reported that analysis of internal documents from tobacco company Philip Morris revealed that researchers from the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University in Japan, Hiromichi Kimura, and Koji Kawakami, received and concealed money from the tobacco industry.1 It was revealed that between 2017 and 2019, money from the tobacco industry was funneled to Koji Kawakami through CMIC Holdings Co., Ltd.(CMIC), which manages clinical trials in Japan. According to the Braznell paper, Kawakami had a conflict of interest (COI) with the tobacco industry, but did not disclose it. Indeed, Kawakami coauthored a paper regarding the association between workplace smoke-free regulations and exposure to secondhand smoke (Takenobu paper).2 In the funding section of this paper, only the CMIC was mentioned, with no disclosure of the tobacco industry’s involvement. The authors of the Takenobu paper were Koichiro Takenobu, Satomi Yoshida, Kota Katanoda, Koji Kawakami, and Takahiro Tabuchi. The paper was published in BMJ Open, which does not accept research funded by the tobacco industry.3