In December 2022, Uzbekistan claimed that 18 children had allegedly died in their country after drinking Indian cough syrup. The manufacturer of Syrup was Noida-based Marian Biotech Company. Now the World Health Organization has issued a warning against the company’s two cough syrups.

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday evening issued a warning against two cough syrups (cough medicine) made by an Indian firm, which are potentially linked to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan.

The warning (product alert) states that both cough syrups contain diethylene glycol (DEG) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) have been found to be at unacceptable levels.

This event Another similar incident in The Gambia According to another WHO warning, DEG and EG were found in four syrups of children.

Wednesday’s product alert is against two products – ‘Ambronol Cough Syrup’ and ‘Dox-1 Max’ Syrup. Both are manufactured by Noida-based pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech. There was no response from the company to the WHO warning. Its website Has been closed.

The UN body’s health warning said the disputed samples were tested by “national quality control laboratories” on the orders of Uzbekistan’s health authorities.

warning “To date, the mentioned manufacturer has not guaranteed the WHO on the safety and quality of these products,” it said.

The WHO has warned that both products may have market approval in other countries or be supplied through the informal market.

“It is necessary to detect and remove these substandard products from circulation to protect patients from harm,” the WHO warning said.

It has asked drug regulators around the world to increase surveillance of these products in their respective markets.

The Wire has done one of its earlier also report It was reported that the amount of diethylene glycol in the syrups being questioned is up to 21 percent. after that A report from the Gambian Parliament It was concluded that they were responsible for the deaths of 70 children in their country. The Indian government has so far not responded to the Gambia parliamentary report and has given a clean chit to the Indian firm responsible for the construction of those syrups.

Uzbekistan first protested against one of the two products ‘Docs-1 Max’ Syrup on December 27, 2022. warning was given. “So far, 18 out of 21 children with respiratory disease have died due to consumption of Dox-1 Max syrup,” it said.

“It was found that the deceased children had taken this medicine at home for 2 to 7 days before being admitted to the hospital, 3-4 times a day, which is more than the standard dose of the drug for children,” the warning further said.

Uzbekistan’s health ministry statement said the drug contained ethylene glycol.

Two days later, a team from the Indian drug regulator Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) collected control samples for testing. For each batch of products released in the market, a manufacturer has to preserve the samples for future investigation and those samples are known as control samples.

The results of the Indian investigation are pending, but the Uttar Pradesh State Drug Controller cancelled Marion Biotech’s licence on January 10.

news agency ANI “We have suspended the product licence of Marion Biotech company as they did not provide us enough documents,” Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) drug inspector Vaibhav Babbar was quoted as saying.

Babbar also told ANI, “A show-cause notice was served by the state licensing authority on the basis of documents sought during the inspection, which they (Marian Biotech) did not provide. The manufacturing of all medicines in the company has been stopped.”

Earlier, the Drug Export Promotion Council (Pharmexil), an organization working under the Union Ministry of Commerce, had suspended the license of Marion Biotech following the developments in Uzbekistan after the death of children due to cough syrup in Uzbekistan.

The council had sought details from the company, including the names of importers, copy of manufacturing licence, where the Docs-1 Max Syrup was exported. The company had reportedly failed to provide these details.

To read this report in English Click here.

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