Japan. One death suspected to be caused by interstitial pneumonia in a patient treated with sodium rabeprazole (Pariet) has been reported by the manufacturer in Japan. Based on this and other related reports the Japanese Ministry of Health and Labour Welfare has advised the company to add interstitial pneumonia to the Clinically Significant Adverse Reactions section in the product insert for rabeprazole (Pariet). Rabeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor that was launched in the Japanese market in 1997 and is used by as many as 500,000 patients a year.

Reference:
Pharma Japan 1802/8 July 2002.