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August 23, 2025
 

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PHARMACEUTICALS

While many patients showed improvement in Fanconi syndrome, 87% still had kidney function indicators below standard levels despite two months having passed since Kobayashi Pharmaceutical urged consumers to stop taking the supplement.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025
Tainted beni kōji supplement linked to persistent kidney damage, study finds
The Osaka University study analyzed data from patients who reported health issues between late March and late April 2024.
Five years since COVID-19 started upending the world, the virus is still infecting and killing people across the globe — though at far lower levels than during the height of the pandemic.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025
Is the world ready for the next pandemic?
While the U.N. health agency considers the world more prepared than it was when Covid hit, it warns we are still not nearly ready enough.
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in October.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 29, 2024
Meiji Seika Pharma files suit against lawmaker over 'unfounded' vaccine claims
CDP Lower House lawmaker Kazuhiro Haraguchi has said that the drugmaker's replicon vaccine is "akin to a biological weapon."
The health ministry aims to improve accessibility, particularly in areas with few pharmacies.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024
Japan to allow convenience stores to handle over-the-counter drugs
Under current regulations, OTC drugs can only be sold at stores with pharmacists or other qualified personnel stationed at all times.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka factory
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2024
Hong Kong fund increases its stake in Kobayashi Pharmaceutical
Oasis Management said its stake in Kobayashi Pharmaceutical climbed to 10.1% from 7.5%.
Official prices of nearly half of drugs in Japan will be reduced to lower the burden on patients.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan ministers agree on price cuts for half of all drugs
Ministers also agreed to raise the upper limit on out-of-pocket medical expenses.
The government plans to lower official drug prices for fiscal 2025 while carefully considering the scope of items subject to the planned cuts in light of the impacts on drugmakers.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2024
Japanese drug market prices 5.2% lower than official prices
Generic drugs made up 62.1% of the market by value in September, with a government target of 65% by fiscal 2029 to cut medical costs.
Out of over 16,000 pharmaceutical products, 3,103 — or 18.5% — were either in limited or suspended supply as of the end of October, according to a recent survey. Of these, over 60% are generic drugs.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2024
Japan's generic drug shortage continues as flu season kicks off
The supply shortfall is due to a string of scandals that hit the generic drug industry in recent years as well as other structural problems.
A Nigerian health official administers an mpox vaccination at Federal Medical Center in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2024
WHO approves Japanese pharmaceutical company's mpox vaccine
The listing from the World Health Organization paves the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve and import the vaccine for distribution.
Lecanemab was developed by drugmakers Eisai of Japan and Biogen of the United States.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
European agency switches to recommending new Alzheimer's drug
The committee judged that the efficacy of lecanemab outweighs the risk for some patients.
For patients using donanemab, it will cost them about ¥3.08 million per year. But national insurance coverage will have the government shoulder most of the cost.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 13, 2024
Japan OKs insurance coverage of Alzheimer's drug donanemab
Donanemab became the second Alzheimer's drug that targets causative deposited plaque in the brain to win the coverage after lecanemab.
A pharmacist displays boxes of Ozempic in Provo, Utah.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2024
Obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk posts strong profit
Europe's most valuable company and the main driver of the Danish economy said it expected its 2024 full-year sales to be up by 23% to 27% from a year earlier.
Since October, patients have been asked to pay more for brand-name drugs prescribed by medical institutions if the patents have expired.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024
Japan raises out-of-pocket costs for off-patent drugs
With the increases, the government aims to reduce health care costs by encouraging greater use of generic drugs.
Various kinds of over-the-counter drugs seized by police after being illegally kept to be sold in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district and other locations
JAPAN / Society
Nov 1, 2024
Experts call for action on OTC drug abuse among youth in Japan
A number of people have experienced organ damage, including liver failure, with some cases resulting in death.
Takeda Pharmaceutical raised its full-year operating profit guidance to ¥265 billion from ¥225 billion, citing a stronger than expected first-half performance and updated currency assumptions.
BUSINESS
Oct 31, 2024
Japan's Takeda raises full-year profit forecast amid restructuring
Takeda raised its full-year operating profit guidance to ¥265 billion from ¥225 billion, citing a stronger than expected first-half performance.
Keisuke Yoshida, a former Daiichi Sankyo employee, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Wednesday for murdering his wife with methanol in 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2024
Ex-employee of drugmaker sentenced to 16 years for methanol murder
Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced a former employee of drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo to 16 years in prison for the murder of his wife by methanol poisoning in 2022.
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry are announced in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 9. They are, as seen on the display screen, David Baker (left), of the University of Washington; Demis Hassabis (center) and John M. Jumper (right), both from Google DeepMind, U.K.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2024
Google's DeepMind Nobel Prize showcases AI’s medical potential
Google’s AlphaFold tool is already widely used by pharmaceutical researchers searching for groundbreaking new medicines.
Hiroyuki Okuzawa, chief operating officer of Daiichi Sankyo, during an interview in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2024
Daiichi Sankyo eyes newer cancer drugs to stave off rivals
The Japanese drugmaker has emerged as a leader in ADC, a type of cancer therapy that targets cancerous cells while sparing the healthy ones.
Community leaders discuss the role of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in ending the HIV/AIDS threat to public health by 2030 at a seminar hosted by Gilead Sciences in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2024
HIV prevention drug remains out of reach for many in Japan despite approval
The drug's high cost together with insufficient knowledge and awareness are hindering efforts to broaden access to it, experts and community leaders say.
Mecobalamin is a form of vitamin B12 sold as a remedy for peripheral neuropathy and other conditions. It was initially proposed for pharmaceutical approval as a treatment for ALS in 2015 by drugmaker Eisai Co. after its clinical trial found a certain level of efficacy.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 24, 2024
Japan approves sale of new ALS drug, raising hopes among patients
The drug, mecobalamin, extended the survival period of patients within a year of the onset of ALS by over 500 days, surpassing existing drugs.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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