The World Health Organization on Wednesday released an alert on two cough syrups made in India through its official website. The alerts included two cough syrups made by Noida-based company Marion Biotech. It stated that that cough syrups fail to meet the quality standards of specifications and therefore should not be consumed by children as they can lead to major side effects or death.
This alert by WHO comes days after 18 children lost their lives in Uzbekistan after consuming a particular cough syrup allegedly manufactured in India. The WHO medical product alert stated that two cough syrups namely AMBRONOL syrup and DOK-1 Max syrup manufactured by Noida-based Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. are substandard and contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and /or ethylene glycol as contaminants. The substances can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death. It further added that these cough syrups are out of specification due to which consumption of the same is not advised. These two medical products were reported to WHO on 22nd December 2022 and after testing them by themselves, the organization has released its alert. The WHO alert further added that till date Marion Biotech fails to provide a guarantee of the safety and quality of these products.
Marion Biotech came under the scanner of Ministry of Health Uzbekistan and India along with WHO after 18 children of Uzbekistan died in the month of December. Reportedly, the children lost their lives in Uzbekistan after consuming Doc-1 Max tablets and cough syrup. During the investigation, it was revealed that all the children who were admitted to the hospital due to sudden deterioration in their health had one thing in common that is the consumption of Doc-1 Max tablets or syrups. Post this, the Health Ministry of Uzbekistan got a laboratory test conducted for the cough syrup which revealed that it consists of ethylene glycol which is a toxic substance. Soon after this, Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration Department suspended the production license of Marion Biotech. It stated, “We have suspended the production license of Marion Biotech after it failed to provide enough documents. A show-cause notice was also given by the state licensing authority depending upon the documents asked during the inspection which they didn't provide.”