The president and the chairperson of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical resigned Tuesday to take responsibility for numerous health problems and deaths that could be linked to its beni k¨ji red yeast rice supplements.
The Osaka-based drugmaker¡¯s Chairperson Kazumasa Kobayashi resigned from his post and as a board member effective from Tuesday, but will stay on as a special adviser. Akihiro Kobayashi, the son of Kazumasa and company¡¯s president since 2013, will step down as president but remain as a board member focusing on compensating victims. He will take on the role starting Aug. 8, the company announced on Tuesday. Both are members of the founding family.
Satoshi Yamane, a senior executive of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, will become the new president on Aug. 8, marking the first time in the company¡¯s 138-year-old history that someone outside the founding family will become the chief executive.
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