The health ministry has decided to admit some fault in the scandal involving hepatitis C infections from blood products, according to sources.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to state in an internal investigation report to be released soon that it was ill-equipped to gather information and coordinate with affiliated medical research institutes. The ministry explained that it was not able to learn immediately of a 1977 U.S. ban of the hepatitis-tainted products produced by defunct drugmaker Green Cross Corp, sources said.
Green Cross was allowed to continue selling the blood-clotting fibrinogen drugs for another decade. It only began voluntarily recalling them in 1987, after eight cases of hepatitis infection from the agents surfaced in 1986 and 1987.