A criminal probe into the manipulation of clinical data on the effectiveness of a high blood pressure treatment drug marketed by Novartis Pharma K.K. has failed to reveal the full picture of the scandal.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has indicted an employee of the firm and the company itself on the charge of exaggerated advertising — using false data to promote the drug as more effective than similar products sold by rival drug makers. But the social responsibility of not only universities but also doctors involved in the clinical research in question have yet to be clarified.
The Japanese sales arm of the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis provided about ¥1.1 billion in donations to five universities that engaged in clinical research on the drug Diovan in the 2000s.
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