Over 12,000 people in Japan were sent to hospital due to heatstroke in the week that ended on Sunday, the largest weekly total since this year’s tally began on April 29, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.
The European Medicines Agency has said that its committee for assessing medicines recommended “not granting a marketing authorization” to Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab.
According to the announcement by the EMA, which is under the European Union, on Friday, the committee pointed out that the effect of lecanemab, developed jointly by Japan’s Eisai Co. and U.S. drugmaker Biogen Inc., in delaying cognitive decline “does not counterbalance” the risk of serious side events, such as bleeding in the brain.
Japan’s Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. said Friday that it has failed to report to the health ministry some products containing its “beni koji” red fermented rice that were supplied to five companies. According to the ministry, none of the five companies’ products are marketed any longer. The ministry asked Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to report by Wednesday whether there are any beni koji-containing products subject to the reporting other than those of the five companies.
More than half of Japanese elementary and junior high school students are “underhydrated,” a research team led by Niigata University has found.
Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Keizo Takemi and Lei Haichao, head of China’s National Health Commission, met in Beijing on Friday and agreed to promote cooperation in the areas of medical and nursing care services.
Takemi and Lei also discussed measures to deal with population aging, a common challenge facing their countries.
The number of deaths under investigation over possible links to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.’s supplements containing “beni koji” red fermented rice reached 97, Japan’s health ministry said Monday.
The number of fatal cases under investigation over possible links to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.’s supplements containing “beni koji” red fermented rice has reached 81, Japan’s health ministry said Friday.
The cumulative number of people hospitalized in relation to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co.’s supplements containing “beni koji” red fermented rice had reached 492 as of Sunday, Japan’s health ministry said Tuesday.
The move comes as the number of organs provided from brain-dead donors increases. It also follows a recent survey that found medical institutions had declined 16 heart donations from such donors in 2023 due to a shortage of manpower and hospital beds. The number of medical facilities capable of performing heart transplants will increase to 14 nationwide after the hospitals at three national universities — Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Okayama University and Ehime University — are approved to perform such operations.
Following a health scandal involving its “beni koji” dietary supplement products, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. said on Friday that it will withdraw from the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. The company had been preparing to sponsor a healthcare pavilion to be run by the prefecture and city of Osaka and others and also planning to run its own booth.
Barrier Free Japan