Kana Inagaki for The Wall Street Journal. 12 August 2013. Novartis Drug Studies in Japan–Tracing Back the Questions As a result, several Japanese hospitals stopped using the drug, and media outlets ran reports on the scandal in Japan. In January 2014 Japan's Health Ministry filed a criminal complaint with the Tokyo public prosecutor's office against Novartis and an unspecified number of employees, for allegedly misleading consumers through advertisements that used the research to support the benefits of Diovan. On 1 July 2014 the prosecutor's office announced it was formally charging the company and one of its employees.
