WHO Issues Warning on Indian Cough Syrup Linked to 66 Gambian Deaths

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that a deadly batch of cough syrup connected to the deaths of dozens of children in the Gambia may have been distributed to other countries.

The agency on Wednesday placed a medical product alert on cough and cold syrups made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd., which have been potentially linked to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in the tiny West African nation, WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said during a media briefing.

Four contaminated Maiden products were found in a laboratory analysis to contain “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” the WHO said. Tedros added that the global health body is conducting further investigations with the company and Indian regulators while recommending countries remove the treatments from circulation.

“The four medicines are cough and cold syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in India. WHO is conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India,” according to WHO.

Calls to the drugmaker’s corporate office in New Delhi weren’t answered, and the company and India’s medical regulator – the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization – didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The deaths spotlight India’s $42 billion drug-making industry, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has heavily promoted as the world’s pharmacy.

India supplies many cheap, generic drugs sold in American pharmacies and hundreds of countries globally. But treatments produced in the South Asian nation have recently been the source of multiple manufacturing scandals, including the export of tainted heart pills.

Closely-held Maiden Pharma has been making and supplying medical products for more than 30 years. According to its website, it has a presence across multiple countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia.