Earlier this month Kyoto University revealed that a study one of its researchers carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug Diovan, which lower blood pressure, was probably "erroneous." Though the university did not say the drug itself was ineffective, it did admit that the data of "those involved in the research" did not always agree with the conclusions of the lead researcher, Hiroaki Matsubara, which said that Diovan is "more potent in reducing angina and brain strokes than any other hypertensive medicines." There are suspicions that Matsubara may have changed some of his data. In December 2012 he asked that his papers on the study be withdrawn.

Diovan, which is also sold generically as valsartan, was developed by the Swiss pharmaceuital giant Novartis Pharma K.K., which reportedly gave Matsubara a ¥100 million grant for his study. It wouldn't have the first time the company has been accused of bribing doctors. Diovan is one of the company's biggest moneymakers, especially in Japan where it generates ¥100 billion in sales.

Novartis isn't the only drugmaker who does well with high blood pressure medications in Japan. Sales of hypertensive drugs amounts to more than ¥1 trillion a year, so even if Novartis had been trying to get researchers to post better results for their medicine, it seems that there's enough of a market for every pharmaceutical company to make a lot of money with HBP medication. Some doctors, in fact, question the ease with which their colleagues prescribe HBP drugs.