NEW DELHI
\nIndia shut down a pharma firm that manufactured a cough syrup linked to the death of at least 19 children in Uzbekistan, the country\u2019s health minister said on Friday.
\nMansukh Mandaviya said that following an inspection by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the country\u2019s drug regulatory body, in view of reports of contamination in cough syrup Dok1 Max, \u201call manufacturing activities of Marion Biotech at Noida unit have been stopped yesterday night, while further investigation is ongoing.\u201d
\nThe country launched a probe this week after authorities in Uzbekistan said many children in the country died because of side effects of a cough syrup manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech. The company is located in Noida city in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
\nAjay Kumar Jain, a top official of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department in Uttar Pradesh, told Anadolu Agency that another inspection was conducted at the pharma firm on Thursday and the team found some \u201cdeviations.\u201d
\n\u201cFor now, all the manufacturing activities have been stopped,\u201d he said. \u201cThe samples have been sent for testing. Further action will be taken after the test reports are received.\u201d
\nUzbek Health Ministry earlier this week reported that 18 children with the acute respiratory disease died after taking Doc-1 Max syrup.
\nThe statement also said that Dok-1 Max tablets and syrups have been withdrawn from sale nationwide, urging parents to purchase medicines only by prescription.
\nIndian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi on Thursday told the media: \u201cUzbek authorities have not formally taken up the matter with us.\u201d
\n\u201cNevertheless, our embassy has contacted the Uzbek side, and is seeking further details of their own investigation,\u201d he said.
\nThe latest incident follows a similar incident that took place in Gambia in October when World Health Organization issued a medical alert for four contaminated medicines detected in Gambia linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 child deaths. The medicines were cough and cold syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in India.
\nHowever, earlier this month, the Indian Parliament was informed by the Health Ministry that \u201ccontrol samples\u201d of the drugs from the manufacturing unit were drawn and sent for test and analysis.
\n\u201cAs per the report of the government analyst, the samples have been declared to be of standard quality,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI India shut down a pharma firm that manufactured a cough syrup linked to the death of at least 19 children in Uzbekistan, the country\u2019s health minister said on Friday. Mansukh Mandaviya said that following an inspection by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the country\u2019s drug regulatory body, in view of reports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-304473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n