The Osaka District Court ordered the government and drugmakers Wednesday to pay a combined 256 million yen in damages to nine of 13 people who were infected with the hepatitis C virus from tainted blood products.
Of the 13 who were treated with fibrinogen and other blood-clotting products, five were awarded compensation from both the state and the drugmakers and four only from the manufacturers.
But the court denied damages to the remaining four. Three of the four used fibrinogen before August 1985, when the drugmaker changed its manufacturing method, increasing the risk of infection. The remaining plaintiff used a different product.