A panel of the health and welfare ministry on Sept. 30 issued an interim report on the manipulation of clinical research data for Novartis Pharma K.K.'s high blood pressure drug Diovan, a trade name for Valsartan.
The report pointed out the possibility that the company's use of scientific papers that mentioned advantageous points of Diovan on the basis of the clinical research data could constitute an "extravagant advertisement" in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
It is still not clear who manipulated the data for what purposes. The interim report is far from unraveling the truth. Because the incident has cast a cloud over the credibility of clinical research in Japan, the panel should continue its investigation in a thorough manner.