Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 26 February 1996
The decision was announced by Baxter International Inc Chairman Vernon R. Loucks Jr in a meeting with Japanese Health and Welfare Minister Naoto Kan, a health ministry spokesman said.
Kan told a news conference about Baxter's decision, but he declined to elaborate on the details of their discussion.
Kan told reporters that Baxter had agreed to "resolve the issue through a compromise."
Baxter officials could not be reached for comment.
Last October, two Japanese district courts proposed a compromise urging the state and five pharmaceutical companies -- two of which are foreign firms -- to together pay 45 million yen ($432,000) to each plaintiff.
Baxter Ltd -- an arm of Baxter International -- and Bayer Yakuhin Ltd were widely reported to be reluctant to agree to the compromise which is believed to be a larger sum than settlements being worked out in overseas lawsuits. Bayer Yakuhin is affiliated to Bayer AG.
The three Japanese firms named in the 1989 lawsuit -- Green Cross Corp, Chemo Sero Therapeutic Research Institute and Nippon Zoki Pharmaceutical Co -- have said that they were ready to negotiate a compromise. Plaintiffs and defendants are aiming to reach a settlement by the end of March.
Earlier this month, Kan formally admitted for the first time the Japanese government's responsibility for the spread of the AIDS virus through untreated imported blood products, and aplogised.
His apology came shortly after the ministry discovered a file documenting the discussion of a 1983 AIDS study group set up by the health ministry.
The documents in the file served to underscore that experts were aware of the dangers of imported blood products, a fact that haemophiliacs have long maintained. The health ministry had insisted that it could not find the file.
The issue now under question is why the group decided in 1983 to continue to allow drug companies to sell untreated imported blood products when it was aware of the danger of AIDS exposure. The decision came a mere week after the group had discussed possibly introducing treated blood products in Jpaan. The dangers of untreated blood products had begun to be reported in the United States in the early 1980's.
Domestic treated blood products were officially approved in July 1985, two years and four months after a similar decision in the United States.
About 1,800 of Japan's estimated 5,000 haemophiliacs are believed to have been infected with HIV through tainted blood.
Latest ministry figures show that there are 1,154 people with AIDS and 2,942 infected with the HIV virus in Japan, a nation of 123 million.
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