At least 18 children have died after consuming a medicinal syrup manufactured by an Indian drugmaker, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan has said news agency Reuters reported.
The Indian drugmaker in question is Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. The syrup was imported into Uzbekistan by another company named Quramax Medical LLC.
The website of the drug making company is currently unavailable.
Regarding reports from Uzbekistan concerning contaminated cough syrup made by Indian company Marion Biotech, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the @CDSCO_INDIA_INF is in regular contact with the national drug regulator of Uzbekistan since 27th December, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has tweeted.
In a series of tweets, he has said: Immediately on receipt of the information, a joint inspection of Marion Biotech’s Noida facility was carried out by UP Drug Control and the CDSCO team. Further action as appropriate would be initiated based on the inspection report. The samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises and sent to Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh for testing.
We regret deaths, govt is conducting enquiry. We'll take action as per report. Samples were collected. Manufacturing of that product has been halted as of now & other processes are underway, Hasan Harris, Marion Biotech Pharma Company legal head on syrup deaths in Uzbekistan told ANI.
Marion Biotech is based in Noida. The company's LinkedIn page says it was founded in 1999. The social media profile of the company also says that its products are "household names in Central Asian countries, Central and Latin America, South East Asia and Africa".
The deceased kids were administered the Doc-1 Max syrup as a remedy against an acute respiratory disease.
The kids were given the syrup without a doctor's prescription and it is believed that the doses that were recommended by the parents or the pharmacists exceeded the standard dose.
A total of 21 children were given the syrup out of which 18 have died.
The health ministry says a batch of the syrup contained ethylene glycol, a toxic substance.
Ethylene glycol is an industrial compound and is mostly used as an automotive antifreeze.
"Its metabolites are toxic and cause profound metabolic acidosis, cerebral edema, cardiovascular collapse, acute renal failure, and possibly death," the US CDC has said in a report.
On this, an Indian government source said the health ministry was looking into the matter, Reuters reported.
Few months before a similar complaint was put against New Delhi based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd after 70 children had died in Gambia consuming one of its cough and cold syrups.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek government has withdrawn Doc-1 Max tablets and syrups from all pharmacies
