On Friday, the pharmaceutical group announced it was investigating the five deaths and clarified that 114 people, mainly suffering from kidney problems, had been hospitalized in the archipelago.
A case of hospitalization in Taiwan reported by local media last week may also be linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s food supplements.
Red Yeast Rice “Benny Koji”
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and Japanese health authorities are still working to identify what substance in the food supplement’s red yeast rice (called “benny koji”) may have caused the reported hospitalizations and deaths.
The affair has been in Japanese media headlines for about ten days, fueling misinformation and conspiracy theories on social networks.
The company based in Osaka (western Japan) indicated last week that it has supplied its red yeast rice to about fifty companies in Japan as well as two companies in Taiwan.
First reported on January 15
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical also said it “regrets” that the company only addressed the issue in mid-March, announcing the recall of three product lines, despite receiving the first report from a doctor as early as January 15.
