The government has reached an agreement with two drug companies to shoulder a third of the relief money for patients infected with hepatitis C through tainted blood products in line with out-of-court settlements in 2008, the health ministry said Friday.
Osaka-based Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. and Tokyo-based Nihon Pharmaceutical Co. will pay the remainder of the benefits for the patients, who were given hepatitis C virus-tainted fibrinogen between April 22, 1987, and June 23, 1988, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The companies will pay all the relief money for those given the tainted fibrinogen between Aug. 21, 1985, and April 21, 1987, and those given the tainted PPSB-Nichiyaku in January 1984 or after.
The firms will pay ¥5.3 billion to cover relief benefits and miscellaneous costs to the patients given the tainted blood products during other periods.
Many of the sufferers contracted the disease from around 1970 to the early 1990s through tainted blood products during operations or when giving birth.