Another Japanese University Finds Faulty Diovan Research

Yet another Japanese university has concluded that a study of the Diovan heart drug sold by Novartis contains questionable data. The findings comes less than a month after a government panel found the drugmaker may have violated Japanese law by using faulty data to promote its widely used heart drug, an offense that could lead to various penalties (here is the report). The report by the Japanese health ministry followed disclosures earlier this year by Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and Jikei University, which ran two of five studies that touted Diovan as capable of reducing heart attacks and strokes, that data was manipulated. The panel noted Novartis marketing literature – such as brochures for physicians and handouts for lectures - often featured research papers by the universities. Now, a committee at Shiga University of Medical Science says 10.1 percent of patient data in its reports released in 2007 failed to match original data in clinical records, The Japan Times reports. The committee also said that, overall, the data seem to have been changed to reflect figures in a way to bolster Diovan. The Shiga Prefecture conducted the study between 2003 and 2006 to determine whether the drug could lower blood pressure and protect kidneys in 150 hypertensive patients. Novartis has been scandalized by a series of retracted papers concerning the medication, a huge seller in Japan that reached $5.6 billion in worldwide sales in 2011 before generics became available. Tha...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs