Gov't to pay 40%, firms 60% of benefits for hepatitis victims

TOKYO —

The government will shoulder about 40% and two drug companies 60% of relief money they agreed to pay patients infected with hepatitis C through tainted blood products in line with out-of-court settlements in 2008, the health ministry said Friday. The government will put up one-third and the companies—Osaka-based Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp and Tokyo-based Nihon Pharmaceutical Co—two-thirds of the benefits for the patients given hepatitis C virus-tainted fibrinogen between April 22, 1987 and June 23, 1988, said the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.