India Reveals More Toxic Cough Syrups

My August 03, 2023 post “Death by Cough Mixture” refers. 

 

According to a Hindu BusinessLine report published June 20, 2023 – it would appear that I had missed out this news – Indian authorities had ordered a cough syrup manufacturer linked to the deaths of a dozen children in Cameroon to stop production, the latest drugmaker the country has taken action against after a spate of tainted medical exports. 

 

Photographs of a box of Naturcold medication show a manufacturing licence number matching that of Riemann Labs Pvt Ltd, based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. However, the photos, provided by Eko Eko Filbert, a regional health official in Cameroon, don’t show the manufacturer’s name. 

 

The drugs in the photo “look like ours”, said a director at Riemann, Navin Bhatia, in a phone interview. He said Riemann follows strict quality controls and couldn’t have made tainted medicine, and that counterfeiting is common. 

 

The revelation raised the prospect of a third mass death event linked to exported Indian cough syrups in less than a year. Medicines from two other Indian companies killed 66 children in Gambia and 18 in Uzbekistan last year. 

 

And yesterday, Mint, an Indian business and financial daily newspaper reported “India's drug regulator (have) found that a cough syrup and an anti-allergy syrup made by Norris Medicines are toxic, according to a government report, months after Indian-made cough syrups were linked to 141 children's deaths worldwide”. 

 

HG Koshia, commissioner of Gujarat state's Food and Drug Control Administration, told Reuters on Wednesday that they inspected Norris's factory last month and ordered it to suspend production and recall their medications. 

 

The federal drug regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), also found three batches of COLD OUT syrup made by Fourrts (India) Laboratories contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), according to their list of "not of standard quality/spurious/adulterated/misbranded" drugs for August uploaded on their website. 

 

The World Health Organisation said in August that a batch of COLD OUT sold in Iraq had unacceptable levels of DEG and EG. 

 

Indian pharmaceutical executives and regulators have reportedly told Reuters that it is common practice among some manufacturers in the country to substitute cheaper, commercial-grade ingredients when making cough syrups. An unnerving disclosure.