Parents sue Kowa over drug death of woman with cold

      http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030213p2a00m0fp023000c.html

feb 2003
      YOKOHAMA -- The death of a woman that followed violent allergic reactions triggered by over-the-counter cold tablets has prompted her parents to file Thursday a multi-million yen damages suit against a leading pharmaceutical company.

      The parents of the woman, Akemi Nagano, is seeking 150 million yen from Kowa Company and Kowa Shinyaku Co, the manufacturers of top-selling Korugen Kowa ET anti-cold tablets.

      Yokohama District Court records showed that the 31-year-old clothes designer took Korugen ET tablets for a cold in February 1998.

      She took 42 tablets in about a week -- the recommended dosage being nine tablets a day -- and after seven days she began suffering from painful blisters in her throat.

      Nagano was diagnosed as suffering from Stevens-Johnson syndrome which is a life-threatening autoimmune disorder triggered by an adverse allergic drug reaction.

      She was immediately hospitalized but her condition continued to deteriorate and she eventually developed toxic epidermal necrolysis.

      Her skin began to fall off and she had breathing difficulty before losing her sight. Consequently. she died of complications in September 1999.

      "Kowa was aware of the drug's adverse side effects such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome but the direction for dosage and administration of Korugen Kowa ET did not specify the risk clearly," a suit filed by the Nagano's parents read. "We believe that the companies are at fault and are liable for damages." Kowa officials declined to comment.

      Over 880 cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis were reported to the Ministry of Health from 1997 to 1999, with 81 of the cases resulting in the patients' death. (Mainichi Shimbun, Feb. 13, 2003