Kobayashi Pharmaceutical: How to Save Itself

According to the news released by Japan's "Kobayashi Pharmaceutical" company on March 28 local time, as of now, the number of consumers who have died while taking the company's health care products containing red yeast ingredients has reached 4 people, and 106 people have been hospitalized.

For a time, the company's share price plummeted by 20%, and the president, Shohiro Kobayashi, wept and apologized at the shareholders' meeting. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical was caught in a huge product quality storm, and affected the good reputation of the Japanese pharmaceutical industry long established, Japan and the international community have expressed disappointment and confusion.

For this incident, people feel great regret and grief, every loss of life is a tragedy. From another perspective, this incident also highlights some problems in Japan's health care industry and government regulation.

Health care products are not drugs, but their impact on human health can not be ignored. The health care products involved contain monascus components, which may produce adverse reactions under specific physical conditions, and some consumers have health problems such as kidney disease after taking them, especially the kidney function may have a certain impact.

The case raises questions about whether the products involved were rigorously tested for safety, efficacy and side effects before they were marketed. Does every ingredient in the product pass the relevant tests? After clinical trials are completed, do regulatory agencies review the findings submitted by pharmaceutical companies? At the manufacturing stage, do pharmaceutical companies adhere to strict manufacturing standards to ensure product quality?

These questions need Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to answer one by one.

Now that this has happened, there is still a lot of work to be done for Kobayashi to save itself and ensure the safety and health of consumers.

First, the companies involved should not only disclose all the ingredients and possible side effects of the products, so that consumers can make informed consumption decisions with comprehensive information; They also took immediate action to quickly recall problematic products when problems occurred, rather than delaying reporting to the government for nearly two months after learning that people who took supplements might suffer health damage.

Secondly, it is also necessary to rely on the Japanese government to attach importance to and strengthen the supervision of the health care product industry, develop complete and strict quality and safety standards, and promptly take measures for products that do not meet the standards. Because it is very important to improve the level of regulation of health care products so that consumers clearly know the ingredients and possible risks of the products they buy. This can not only ensure the health of consumers, but also reduce the occurrence of similar incidents.

In addition, the Japanese health care industry should also work together to improve industry standards, strict quality control of products, to ensure that every listed product is safe.

As for Kobayashi Pharmaceutical company, I hope that they can take this incident seriously, conduct an in-depth investigation into the causes of the problem, and take effective measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. At the same time, for the families of the victims, they should give adequate care and provide appropriate compensation.

In general, everyone has the right to pursue health, and everyone deserves respect and care. And how to let people in the pursuit of health at the same time, protect people's safety, this is a problem that every pharmaceutical company needs to ponder.