- Thursday, February 27, 2025
The world health body flagged contamination in its cough syrups that were found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia in April this year.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian government has suspended the manufacturing license of a drugmaker after the World Health Organisation (WHO) flagged contamination in its cough syrups that were found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia in April this year, the country’s deputy health minister on Tuesday (25) told the parliament.
The Indian regulators were inspecting the drugmakers after cough syrups manufactured in the country were linked to deaths of nearly 90 children in countries such as The Gambia and Uzbekistan last year. The incident affected the South Asian nation’s image as the “pharmacy of the world” that supplies affordable drugs across the world.
The world health body flagged contamination with very high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol that can be fatal for humans when consumed, in samples taken from a batch of cough syrup manufactured by QP Pharmachem Ltd in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
The company denied any wrongdoing and told Reuters that it was planning to appeal against the suspension.
Speaking to the parliament which is currently in session, deputy health minister Bharati Pravin Pawar said, “Drug samples drawn from the manufacturing premises … were declared as ‘not of standard quality’.”
She added that the manufacturing licenses of QO Pharmachem and two other firms, whose products were linked to the death of children — Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Marion Biotech Pvt. Ltd — have been suspended and their exports were stopped.
Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Marion Biotech also denied any wrongdoing, the Reuters report added.
Sudhir Pathak, managing director of QP Pharmachem, told production had been stopped.
He also said that he had tested the ingredients used in the cough syrup, named Guaifenesin TG, before the production kicked off.
He also said that he only exported the product to Cambodia and was not sure how it could have reached places such as the Mashall Islands and Micronesia, the Reuters report added.
