Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issues emergency order to suspend medical services due to serious infection caused by regenerative medicine
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has issued an emergency order to the clinic to temporarily suspend the provision of regenerative medicine after a patient who had received regenerative medicine at a clinic in Tokyo for the purpose of preventing cancer and other diseases contracted a serious infection and was hospitalized. The cause of the incident will be investigated in detail in the future.
The two clinics that received the orders are "THE K CLINIC" in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, and "Ikebukuro Clinic Culture Center" in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, both of which are operated by the medical corporation Kiho-kai. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, two people who received regenerative medicine at the clinic for the purpose of preventing cancer and other diseases were hospitalized with severe symptoms due to an infection. The two were administered processed cells called NK cells. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare determined that there was a possibility of health damage spreading, and on the 2th, based on the Act on Ensuring the Safety of Regenerative Medicine, etc., issued an emergency order to the clinic and the center that cultivated the NK cells to temporarily suspend the provision of similar regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is provided as an elective medical treatment that is not covered by medical insurance, and the two hospitalized people are said to be recovering. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will investigate the cause in detail and investigate whether there are any other people suspected of health damage.