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Tokyo cops bust company in unlawful sale of ED drugs

Ryo Kohiyama
Ryo Kohiyama

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a health foods company in Minato Ward over the illegal sale of a product claiming to assist with erectile dysfunction, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 9).

Ryo Kohiyama, the 37-year-old president of Inspire, and two other male and female employees for the alleged unlawful sale, advertisement and stocking of The Gold, a product not yet recognized as a drug under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.

Kohiyama admits to the allegations. “Given the competition from other companies, I did it to boost sales,” the suspect is quoted. The other two employees deny the charges, saying they acted under the instructions of the company and did not know the product was illegal.

Inspire sold one box of 360 tablets of The Gold for 12,980 yen via mail order. The company’s web site claimed that the product increases the quantity and quality of sperm and “strengthens the sustainability of an erection.”

Between November of 2010 and June of 2015, the company sold the product to more than 17,000 customers nationwide on sales of 560 million yen.