Tokyo prosecutors yesterday raided the Japanese unit of Novartis on suspicion of manipulating data to promote the Swiss drugmaker’s bestselling blood pressure drug Diovan, a local Novartis spokeswoman said.

The raid comes a day after prosecutors arrested a former employee at Novartis Pharma KK, the unlisted Japanese subsidiary, in the same case of suspected violation of laws that prohibit exaggerated advertising.

The spokeswoman repeated the company’s statement a day earlier that Novartis took the matter seriously and that it would continue to cooperate with the investigating authorities.

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