‘Red Nuruk’ Pharmaceutical Company Chairman and CEO Resign Together... Total Deaths Reach 100

Akihiro Kobayashi, President of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical in Japan, held a press conference in Osaka on March 29, bowing his head in apology along with other executives. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The top executives of a Japanese pharmaceutical company, who manufactured and sold health supplements containing red yeast rice (Hongguk) and caused the deaths of around 100 people, have resigned together.

On the 23rd, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical held an extraordinary board meeting that morning and decided that Chairman Kazumasa Kobayashi and his son, President Akihiro Kobayashi, would step down together taking responsibility for the red yeast rice incident. Chairman Kobayashi stepped down to become a special advisor, and his son stepped down from a registered executive to an unregistered executive to handle compensation for victims and follow-up measures. The successor CEO will be Executive Director Satoshi Yamane, marking the first time the company is led by a non-owner.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical identified in January this year that health supplements containing red yeast rice caused kidney disease, but it took over two months to report the issue to the government and local authorities, resulting in a delayed response. Initially, the company announced five deaths suspected to be related to kidney disease, but in June, it expanded the scope of disclosure beyond kidney disease. So far, the number of deaths has reached about 100.

South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety issued a press release in March stating, "The five problematic red yeast rice health supplements are currently confirmed not to be officially imported into the country," but also said, "To prevent overseas direct purchases of these products, detailed information about the products has been provided to domestic platform companies, and sales restraint has been requested."

Red yeast rice is made by fermenting rice and other grains with red yeast mold (Hongguk mold), which is known to have cholesterol-decomposing effects. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's 'Hongguk Choleste Help' sold about 1.1 million units since its release in 2021. The company has also exported both finished health supplements containing red yeast rice and raw red yeast rice materials overseas.