Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announces 11 new cases of death from red koji supplement company says it failed to report to Ministry of Health， Labor and Welfare， “We were not handling the product properly．”
Regarding the issue of health problems reported by people who took supplements containing Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s “Red Koji,” Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announced that it had received inquiries regarding 11 cases of death. These 11 cases were not reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has responded to the issue of health damage reported by people who have taken supplements containing red koji by voluntarily recalling products and accepting inquiries regarding the health damage. Since announcing the voluntary recall on March 22, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare the number of cases for which they have received information on whether there is a correlation between the deaths and the number of cases they are investigating. On June 28, in addition to the initial five cases, Kobayashi reported that they had received inquiries regarding 170 new deaths, including cases other than kidney disease, which they had determined should be reported. Subsequently, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announced on August 13 that after investigating the inquiries, it had found 11 new cases of death-related inquiries that should have been reported. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical is continuing its investigation, but as of now, of the 11 cases, it has been confirmed that in five cases, the patient had not consumed red yeast rice-related products, in four cases detailed investigations of doctors etc. will be conducted, and in two cases the consumption of red yeast rice-related products is being examined. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical will continue its investigation and will provide a follow-up report once it is completed. Regarding the cause of the failure to report, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has reportedly handled the situation by reporting the information to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other organizations as health hazard information when a link to red koji-related products could not be denied, but this handling was not carried out thoroughly. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical stated, “We sincerely apologize for not being able to report the matters that we should have reported.” 2024/08/13 16:35 mbs news.
Not all 11 cases have been confirmed to be caused by red yeast rice. >Of the 11 cases to date, >it has been confirmed that in 5 cases the individuals did not consume red yeast rice-related products, >four cases will require further investigation by doctors etc., >and two cases are being investigated for the consumption of red yeast rice-related products.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical should have a permanent resident watchdog from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Consumer Affairs Agency and the prosecutors’ office.
Most pharmaceutical companies don’t know who is taking supplements, do they? For example, vitamin supplements. Cancer patients and vaccinated people take them, but they don’t list vitamin supplements as the cause of death, do they? Why list red yeast rice as the cause of death?
For example, it has been announced that vitamin B12, folic acid, and vitamin A (beta-carotene) increase the mortality rate when taken in pill form, and while deaths caused by these are fine, why is red yeast rice bad?
The financial results announcement said that they were able to secure a profit because advertising costs were reduced by 4 billion yen due to the lack of commercials.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (now Prime) in August 2000. According to the securities report filed at the end of last year, the family holds 33% (24.76 million shares), with Akihiro as the largest shareholder with 12%, and in third place is the Kobayashi Foundation, headed by Kazumasa. As of February 5, when the Red Koji issue was discussed within the company, the market capitalization of the family’s shares was approximately 160 billion yen. Last year’s annual dividend was 101 yen, meaning the family has about 2.5 billion yen in hand. “Furthermore, the company is known for high executive compensation, with Kazumasa earning 323 million yen and Akihiro earning 101 million yen over the course of a year.”
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