ID :
21782
Mon, 09/29/2008 - 10:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/21782
The shortlink copeid
M'bishi Tanabe, hepatitis sufferers sign settlement pact
OSAKA, Sept. 28 Kyodo - Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. President Natsuki Hayama apologized Sunday to the sufferers of hepatitis C virus as his company and the patients reached a deal to end a court battle involving tainted blood products sold by one of the firm's predecessors.
In the agreement, Mitsubishi Tanabe, the successor of the now-defunct Green
Cross Corp., and its subsidiary Benesis Corp., recognized its responsibility
for the outbreak of hepatitis C and offered an apology.
The defendants also promised in the agreement to make the utmost efforts to
prevent a recurrence of medicine-induced health calamities, to continue talks
with the plaintiffs and their lawyers and to take measures including the
development of a new anti-hepatitis C drug.
As Mitsubishi Tanabe and Benesis concluded a basic agreement Sunday to end the
six-year-old suit, Nippon Pharmaceutical Co. will now be the only remaining
defendant in a series of damages suits filed by hepatitis C sufferers against
the Japanese government and the three drug makers.
The government has already reached a compromise agreement with the plaintiffs.
Green Cross was a maker of the tainted fibrinogen and christmassin blood
products through which a number of people were infected with hepatitis C -- a
liver illness mainly transmitted by blood.
Although the symptoms of hepatitis C are relatively mild compared with other
types of hepatitis, the condition tends to become chronic and can develop into
cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Many of the sufferers contracted the disease from around 1970 to the early
1990s through tainted blood products during operations or when giving birth.
More than 1,000 sufferers filed damages suits with courts across Japan against
the state as well as Mitsubishi Tanabe, Benesis and Nippon Pharmaceutical
starting in 2002.
Earlier this year, the government and the plaintiffs reached a compromise
agreement to settle the court battles.
Following the agreement, the Diet enacted a law in January to offer blanket
relief to people who contracted hepatitis C, paying 12 million to 40 million
yen per patient depending on the levels of suffering. The funds paid under the
law are financed by the state and the three firms.
Among the plaintiffs in damages suits against Mitsubishi Tanabe and Benesis,
those who have reached settlement accords with the government will drop their
damages claims against the two companies.
Green Cross was absorbed by Yoshitomi Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. in 1998,
which then merged with Mitsubishi Tokyo Pharmaceuticals Inc. to create
Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. Mitsubishi Pharma and Tanabe Seiyaku Co. merged in 2007
to establish Mitsubishi Pharma.
==Kyodo
In the agreement, Mitsubishi Tanabe, the successor of the now-defunct Green
Cross Corp., and its subsidiary Benesis Corp., recognized its responsibility
for the outbreak of hepatitis C and offered an apology.
The defendants also promised in the agreement to make the utmost efforts to
prevent a recurrence of medicine-induced health calamities, to continue talks
with the plaintiffs and their lawyers and to take measures including the
development of a new anti-hepatitis C drug.
As Mitsubishi Tanabe and Benesis concluded a basic agreement Sunday to end the
six-year-old suit, Nippon Pharmaceutical Co. will now be the only remaining
defendant in a series of damages suits filed by hepatitis C sufferers against
the Japanese government and the three drug makers.
The government has already reached a compromise agreement with the plaintiffs.
Green Cross was a maker of the tainted fibrinogen and christmassin blood
products through which a number of people were infected with hepatitis C -- a
liver illness mainly transmitted by blood.
Although the symptoms of hepatitis C are relatively mild compared with other
types of hepatitis, the condition tends to become chronic and can develop into
cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Many of the sufferers contracted the disease from around 1970 to the early
1990s through tainted blood products during operations or when giving birth.
More than 1,000 sufferers filed damages suits with courts across Japan against
the state as well as Mitsubishi Tanabe, Benesis and Nippon Pharmaceutical
starting in 2002.
Earlier this year, the government and the plaintiffs reached a compromise
agreement to settle the court battles.
Following the agreement, the Diet enacted a law in January to offer blanket
relief to people who contracted hepatitis C, paying 12 million to 40 million
yen per patient depending on the levels of suffering. The funds paid under the
law are financed by the state and the three firms.
Among the plaintiffs in damages suits against Mitsubishi Tanabe and Benesis,
those who have reached settlement accords with the government will drop their
damages claims against the two companies.
Green Cross was absorbed by Yoshitomi Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. in 1998,
which then merged with Mitsubishi Tokyo Pharmaceuticals Inc. to create
Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. Mitsubishi Pharma and Tanabe Seiyaku Co. merged in 2007
to establish Mitsubishi Pharma.
==Kyodo
