Irinotecan - Another Drug Scandal For Japan?

Japan has been bedevilled by a series of scandals involving drugs, thepharmaceutical industry and the regulatory authorities, such as the most recent HIV-tainted blood issue. Now there is another in the form of a much-used anticancer drug which has been tied to a significant number of deaths in Japan.

The drug in question is irinotecan, marketed in Japan by both Daiichi Pharmaceutical (as Topotecan) and Yakult Honsha (as Campto). At least 39, and maybe as many as 94, people have died as a result of alleged side effects associated with the product. It was launched in Japan in April 1994, and 20 people are said to have died even during the time that clinical testing was taking place.

Although the Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed data on a number of irinotecan-related deaths that occurred about the time Japanese marketing began, it did not disclose that these were the result of patients being treated with the drug. The Aichi Cancer Center - which had said the deaths were disclosed by the drug's makers, failed to get the MHW to release this information.