New scandal in the world of medicine? There seems in fact no longer to be any doubt as to the fact that the clinical trials carried out by the Japanese subsidiary of the Swiss laboratory Novartis would have been manipulated in order to make believe in the positive effects of Diovan (a antihypertensive drug based on valsartan, marketed in France under the name Tareg) in angina pectoris and stroke.
These very promising clinical trials, led by Professor Hiroaki Matsubara, cardiologist at Kyoto University, were published in 2009 in the European Heart Journal. But gradually Japanese and then German researchers pointed out inconsistencies in this too good to be true study, and discovered that some data had been falsified. The Japanese professor (who has since resigned) would indeed have deliberately falsified the data of 34 patient cases out of the 233 involved in the study to pave the way for new therapeutic indications, in particular for the prevention of stroke and tonsillitis. chest.
At the weekend, Norihisa Tamura, the Minister of Health of Japan officially admitted that the data of the study had been falsified. And in an article published in the very serious Asahi Shimbun, Kyoto University officials have made a formal apology for the disturbance caused by this study.
Marketed in France under the name Tareg, Diovan is prescribed for the treatment of essential hypertension in adults. But Professor Matsubara’s work intended to pave the way for other therapeutic indications in patients at risk of heart attack or stroke.
