Japanese pharmaceutical giant admits that one of its best-selling antihypertensive drugs is suspected of false propaganda

Takeda, a Japanese pharmaceutical giant, admitted Wednesday that a popular antihypertensive drug was suspected of false propaganda Japan's Ministry of health, labor and welfare launched an inquiry into Takeda pharmaceutical on the same day on suspicion of violating the pharmaceutical law At a press conference held on the same day, Takeda's president, Hasegawa Xianshi, admitted that there was "improper publicity" in the marketing of the antihypertensive drug and expressed "profound apology" for it He also disclosed his intention to establish a third-party organization to find out the cause of the incident He also argued that Takeda did not involve in the data statistics and analysis of relevant research, and there was no "conflict of interest" problem According to reports, the advertising of Takeda's antihypertensive drug "bilos" uses a pharmacodynamic chart inconsistent with the clinical research results, which exaggerates the inhibitory effect of the drug on the attack of heart and brain diseases in patients with hypertension, and violates the relevant provisions of the drug advertising of Japan Pharmaceutical Industry Association It is reported that Kyoto University, Osaka University and Keio University set up research groups to carry out clinical research on "bilos" from 2001 to 2005, to investigate the difference of disease incidence in brain, heart and other aspects between patients with hypertension using this drug and those using other drugs Although the related research paper finally points out that there is no difference in the effect of the drug, Takeda once used the chart that looks like "bilos" can more curb the incidence of the disease in the advertisement Takeda apologized that "although there is no statistical difference in efficacy, the advertising content has become a misunderstanding to people." According to media reports, Takeda has donated a total of 3.75 billion yen scholarships to research institutions such as Kyoto University for clinical research of the antihypertensive drug In February, a doctor at the Affiliated Hospital of Kyoto University questioned in a US medical journal that the advertising chart of the efficacy of blopress did not match the data in the paper Japan's Ministry of health, labor and welfare has said it will investigate the truth.