Japan’s health ministry said Friday it was probing claims falsified data was used in an Alzheimer’s disease study involving major pharmaceutical firms, a day after filing an unrelated criminal complaint against Swiss drugs giant Novartis.

Health officials said they were questioning researchers after being told false data was used in clinical testing for the $28 million government-backed Alzheimer’s study, aimed at improving diagnosis of the disease.

The research involved 11 drugs firms, including Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb and Japanese giants Takeda Pharmaceutical and Astellas Pharma, medical imaging companies and nearly 40 hospitals and medical organisations. The public and privately-financed study, dubbed J-ADNI, began in 2007.

The allegations came to light just a day after Japanese officials slapped Novartis with a criminal complaint which alleged its local unit exaggerated advertising for popular blood-pressure drug Diovan.

A former Tokyo University professor and project researcher on the Alzheimer’s study reported the false data claims to health officials. Novartis was not involved in the study.

‘After verifying the facts about these allegations, we will deal with the issue appropriately, setting up an investigation team if necessary,” a health ministry official told AFP.

Health Minister Norihisa Tamura told reporters in Tokyo Friday that the probe would get to the bottom of […]