Consuming Cholesterol Lowering Supplements, 5 People Died and 114 Treated in Japanese Hospitals

TOKYO – Health authorities searched Kobayashi Pharmaceutical in Japan west on Sunday (31/3/2024). That’s after the company reported five deaths that may have been linked to the dietary supplement.

The inspections in Wakayama Prefecture followed Saturday’s inspection in Osaka, expanding an investigation into the drug manufacturer’s use of the red yeast ingredient “Beni-Koji.”

Osaka-based Kobayashi said it found what appeared to be potentially toxic puberulic acid possibly produced by blue mold penicillium in Beni-Koji material produced between last April and October at the Osaka factory.

As of Friday, 114 people had been hospitalized and five people had died after taking the supplement, which is marketed to help lower cholesterol levels.

“The cause of death has not yet been confirmed,” an official at Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare told Reuters. “But it is suspected that Beni-Koji was the cause, so we have inspected two factories in two days,” they said.

Kobayashi said Friday that it was investigating a suspected link between the product and its effects on the kidneys since receiving reports of kidney disease linked to the product.

“We will fully cooperate with the investigation so that we can resolve this matter as early as possible,” Kobayashi’s head of investor relations, Yuko Tomiyama, told reporters on Sunday in a recording aired by public broadcaster NHK.

The health official said his ministry “will join hands with other relevant ministries to do its best to resolve this ongoing case while requesting Kobayashi Pharma to cooperate where necessary in investigating this case”.

The factory in Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward closed in December due to aging facilities and production was shifted to a factory in the city of Kinokawa that was raided on Sunday.

The government criticized the company for taking two months to announce its product’s impact on health. Kobayashi began recalling the product on March 22 after receiving reports of kidney disease.