Indian authorities have halted production of cough syrup at a factory of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a state minister said on Wednesday after a World Health Organisation (WHO) report that the medicine may be linked to the deaths of dozens of children in the Gambia.
The health minister in Haryana state Anil Vij, told Reuters partner ANI that authorities inspected a Maiden factory near the town of Sonipat in the state and found twelve (12) violations of good practices. Production was ordered stopped, Vij said.
The WHO said last week that laboratory analysis of 4 Maiden products Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofex malin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip Cold Syrup had unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethyleneglycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury.
Gambian police in a preliminary investigation report on Tuesday said that the deaths of sixty nine (69) children from acute kidney injury was linked to cough syrups made in India and imported via a United States (US) based company.
Maiden executive Naresh Kumar Goyal declined to comment. He told Reuters last week that the company was trying to find out from its buyer what had happened in Gambia.
It said it sells its products at home and exports to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The cough syrups had been approved for export only to the Gambia, India says although the WHO says they may have gone elsewhere through informal markets.
India’s health ministry said last week that samples of all four Maiden products that had been exported to the Gambia had been sent for testing to a federal laboratory and the results would guide the further course of action as well as bring clarity on the inputs to be received from WHO.
Health ministry officials and the WHO did not respond to requests for comment.
