Shimizu, Toshio
Seto, Takashi
Hirai, Fumihiko
Takenoyama, Mitsuhiro
Nosaki, Kaname
Tsurutani, Junji
Kaneda, Hiroyasu
Iwasa, Tsutomu
Kawakami, Hisato
Noguchi, Kazuo
Shimamoto, Takashi
Nakagawa, Kazuhiko
Article History
Received: 9 March 2016
Accepted: 16 March 2016
First Online: 22 March 2016
Compliance with ethical standards
:
: Takashi Shimamoto and Kazuo Noguchi are employees of MSD K.K. and hold stock and stock options in Merck & Co., Inc. The remaining authors have no potential conflicts of interest to report.
: The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. The study was approved by the institutional review board of each study site, and all the patients provided informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.