India produces one-third of the world’s medicines, mostly generics.
Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health has reported that 18 children have died after consuming cough syrup made by Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech. According to the ministry, preliminary tests showed that the batch of medicine contained the toxic substance ethylene glycol. According to officials, children were given the syrup “Dok-1 Max” without a doctor’s prescription and in a dosage that exceeded the recommended one.
In a statement from the Uzbek authorities dated December 27, it is stated that the tablets and syrup “Dok-1 Max” have been sold in the country since 2012. “It has been established that the deceased children had been taking this medication at home for 2-7 days, 3-4 times a day, in doses of 2.5-5 ml, which exceeds the standard dose of the medication for children,” the ministry’s statement said. The statement did not specify a time frame.
On December 23, the BBC Monitoring Service, citing the news website Gazeta.uz, reported that Uzbek authorities were investigating reports that 15 children in the Samarkand region had died in the past two months after taking cough syrup made in India.
On December 26, the news website Podrobno.uz reported that 21 children, 15 of them under the age of three, were being treated for acute kidney failure, presumably caused by the cough syrup “Dok-1 Max” produced in India from September to December. Three of the patients have recovered.
The Indian Ministry of Health said that since December 27, its officials “have been in constant contact with the National Drug Control Agency of Uzbekistan on this issue. Indian officials have also conducted an inspection of Marion Biotech in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. “The cough syrup samples were collected from the manufacturing premises and sent to the Regional Drug Testing Laboratory in Chandigarh for analysis,” the Indian health ministry statement said.
Marion Biotech has not yet responded to the BBC’s request for comment. The news agency ANI quoted the director of Marion Biotech as saying that the company had temporarily suspended syrup production. He added that the government is conducting an investigation and the company will take appropriate action.
Marion Biotech is based in Noida, near the Indian capital of Delhi. The company’s website is currently down, but the company’s LinkedIn page states that it was founded in 1999 and that its products are “widely known in the countries of Central Asia, Central and Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Known as the “pharmacy of the world,” India produces one-third of the world’s medicines, mostly in the form of off-patent (generic) drugs, and meets a significant portion of the medical needs of developing countries.
In October, the World Health Organization linked four different cough syrups manufactured in India to the deaths of 66 children from kidney failure in The Gambia. Analysis of the syrups showed that they contained unacceptable levels of toxic substances, including diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. Both the Indian government and the syrup manufacturer, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, have denied the allegations.
In December, Indian authorities announced that tests showed the syrups met specifications, and a government official told the BBC that the WHO was “overconfident” in condemning the syrups. However, the WHO said it was not rejecting the results of its research.
Last week, after several weeks of investigation, the Gambia’s parliamentary committee recommended that Maiden Pharmaceuticals be held accountable. The committee also recommended that all of the company’s products be banned in the country.