Thread by @_aussie17

1. Some interesting facts about Japan (I used to work in one of Japan’s top Biopharma in Tokyo)

Prof Fukushima is Emeritus Professor in Kyoto University - Top 3 most prestigious university in the country. (attached CV) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2. The man sitting beside him is Kawada Ryuhei, an activist who won a sit in the House of Councillors in Japan. He contracted HIV when he was 10 years old because of tainted blood.

3. many folks are complaining that he is wearing a mask. Actually its not a big deal to wear a mask in Japan. I used to live near Shinagawa, a main train/subway station. During peak hours it looks like this. Many people wear masks in public pre-pandemic.

4. some just wear them throughout the day. it helps especially peak hours after work because it smells 😂

5. Japanese authorities take Drug Safety much more seriously than western countries. In fact, they demand to see clinical trials with Japanese population because having relatively “smaller” body sizes, some drug dosages are too high when recommended by western guidelines 😅

6. Japan is a very compliant and systematic society. They don’t make a lot of public errors and if they do, it becomes a huge scandal.

7. in 2017, one of the subway trains arrived and left 20 seconds earlier than expected. there was a huge uproar and they had to apologise publicly the next day! it was national news! 😂

nytimes.com/2017/11/16/wor…

8. Corporations are generally fearful of the public because trust and respect is extremely important in Japanese society. This is why you see Professor Fukushima speak so passionately with the authorities.

9. I will be writing up a thread on Drug Safety this weekend! It is inspired by a new friend I met recently after writing a series of tweets on Pharma! @woodymatters

10. Kim’s husband Woody died of a drug induced suicide (zoloft) in 2003. She hs been a drug safety advocate since then. You can watch her story here
vimeo.com/284448578

11. I will write about how ADVERSE EVENTS from drugs are SYSTEMATICALLY and METHODICALLY under-reported by Pharma.
You will be shocked! Stay tuned!!

Meanwhile if you haven’t read through my threads on Pharma, here’s the link to the main thread!

https://twitter.com/_aussie17/status/1593943746772885504

Here is the thread on Drug Safety and how PHARMA systematically REDUCE Adverse Events reports as promised!

https://twitter.com/_aussie17/status/1598439828454273025