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."
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