Japan officials search 2nd factory after drugmaker reports 5 deaths

Health authorities searched a second Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in western Japan on March 31 after the company reported five deaths possibly tied to dietary supplements, an official said.

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The inspection in Wakayama prefecture followed a previous one on March 30 in Osaka, expanding the investigation into the drugmaker's use of "beni koji" red yeast materials.

Osaka-based Kobayashi said it found what appeared to be potentially toxic puberulic acid that could have been produced by blue mould penicillium in beni koji materials produced between last April and October at the Osaka factory.

As at March 29, 114 people had been hospitalised and five had died after taking the supplements, which were marketed as helping to lower cholesterol levels, the company said.

The cause of the deaths has not been confirmed, the official at Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry told Reuters. But "it is suspected that beni koji may be the cause, so we have inspected two factories in two days".

Kobayashi said on March 29 that it was investigating a suspected link between the products and their effects on the kidney after it received reports of kidney disease linked to the products.