Latest news with #KobayashiPharmaceutical
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical vows never to repeat health scare
The head of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has promised that it will never cause health damage again, following a high-profile scare last year caused by its supplements containing beni kōji, or red fermented rice. "I will continue to urge our workers to never repeat" such health hazards, President and CEO Norikazu Toyoda said in a recent interview, held after taking office in March. Toyoda plans to renew the company's personnel systems to prioritize human resource development, as part of efforts to strengthen product quality controls. In March 2024, the drugmaker, based in Osaka, announced that it had received a series of reports about such symptoms as kidney disease from users of its supplements. "We have caused problems for our customers and business partners," Toyoda reiterated, suggesting that his company will continue focusing on providing compensation to victims and taking thorough preventive measures. "Risk control was conducted loosely through our production processes," Toyoda explained, after puberulic acid from blue mold was mixed in the cultivation process for beni kōji. He emphasized that the company will work to allocate personnel skilled at quality examinations and analyses at production sites, while hiring midcareer workers. Referring to the personnel systems to be revamped in December, Toyoda said that the company needs to evaluate employees who will be promoted as specialists. The company renewed its management by promoting Toyoda to president and CEO, bringing in outsider Yoshihito Ota as chairman. Toyoda said he believes that the company's management culture has been changing gradually, noting that "outside directors are also speaking up actively."
Japan Times
29-01-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Hong Kong fund to sue former Kobayashi Pharma execs
Hong Kong-based investment fund Oasis Management said Tuesday that it plans to file a damages lawsuit against the former chairman of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and others over a high-profile health hazard scandal involving supplements containing beni kо̄ji red fermented rice. In the shareholder derivative suit, the fund will seek a total of roughly ¥11 billion ($70.6 million) in damages from former Chairman Kazumasa Kobayashi and six others who were board directors when the issue came to light. It argues that the then executives were responsible for the scandal and that they caused damage to the Japanese drugmaker, in which Oasis Management has a 10.1% stake. The fund called on Kobayashi Pharmaceutical last November to file a damages suit against the former chairman and others, but the request was denied. It has described the company's refusal as being unacceptable. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical said in a statement Tuesday that it has not confirmed that a derivative suit has been filed. Oasis Management is boosting its efforts ahead of the drugmaker's extraordinary shareholders meeting on Feb. 19, proposing the appointment of outside directors.
