State, drug firms held partially liable for CJD

The Tokyo and Otsu district courts have said that the government and two pharmaceutical companies are partially responsible for the spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and have urged that settlements be reached in damages suits, lawyers for the plaintiffs said Wednesday.

The courts said in separate statements that the drug companies could have foreseen as early as 1978 that dura mater, which is often used for patients undergoing brain surgery, could transmit the disease if tainted. The two firms are B. Braun Melsungen AG in Germany and Nihon B.S.S. in Japan.

The courts said the government should be held responsible since February 1987, when the first case of the disease was reported in the United States.