The Center has recommended that the manufacturing license of Uttar Pradesh-based Marion Biotech be canceled after it was found to be adulterated with ethylene glycol in most of the samples tested. The development comes a day after Indian authorities arrested three employees of Marion and launched a search for two directors. The company’s products have also been linked to deaths in Uzbekistan.
News agency ANI quoted Gautam Budh Nagar drug inspector as saying, “The Center has recommended the cancellation of the manufacturing license of Marion Biotech to the State Drug Controller Authority as 22 out of 36 samples taken for its testing were found to contain ethylene glycol.” found adulterated.”
According to a recent Reuters report quoting an inspector involved in the Marion investigation, the samples tested were adulterated with ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol – products the WHO says are sold by two companies in both countries. Toxins were found in
Read also: Uzbekistan cough syrup death: 3 employees of Noida-based pharma firm arrested
Data shared by the World Health Organization shows that hundreds of children – mostly under the age of five – have died of acute kidney injury linked to contaminated drugs in The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The number of casualties could be higher with the sale of such drugs in countries such as the Philippines, Timor Leste, Senegal and Cambodia.
However, Indian authorities have denied allegations that cough syrup manufactured by another Indian company – Maiden Pharmaceuticals – had killed children in The Gambia last year.
Read also: Child deaths in Gambia linked to consumption of Indian cough syrup: CDC
(with inputs from agencies)
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