WHO issued a warning on another cough syrup produced in India
The “World Health Organisation” highlighted another issue for an Indian manufacturing unit: another pharmaceutical company in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia is involved in producing adulterated cough syrup. Within the last seven months, this is the third such alert for adulterated cough syrup produced in India, and previous cases were found in Uzbekistan and Gambia.
According to the warning, the “Therapeutic Goods Administration” of Australia’s quality control labs discovered “unacceptable quantities of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol” in the cough and chest pain syrup Guaifenesin. This syrup is intended to treat chest congestion and coughs. These are the same impurities that were supposedly responsible for 18 children in Uzbekistan and 70 children in the Gambia dying from acute kidney injuries brought on by syrups.
The advisory request to stop the consumption of syrup and that supply networks be more closely watched by regulators. Additionally, it requests that producers evaluate any basic components used in the syrups—such as sorbitol, glycerol, and propylene glycol—before utilising them in a medicinal formulation.
Chemicals used to make the syrups are believed to be the two pollutants’ most likely sources. Although the solvents used are safe, both pollutants are known to be dangerous to people. They may cause acute kidney injury, abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, changed mental status, and other symptoms. Additionally, the pollutants have the potential to be lethal.
According to reports, Trillium Pharma of Haryana and QP Pharmachem Ltd. Of Punjab both produced the syrup that was distributed in the two nations bordering the Pacific Ocean. The WHO claimed that “to date, neither the claimed producer nor the marketer gave guarantees to WHO on the reliability as well as the quality of these products.”
Since then, the government has been performing risk-based inspections of medicine producers in India and has revoked the licences of 18 businesses as well as the authorization for specific goods at three others. The incidents have occurred as India works to enhance its reputation as a global pharmacy offering inexpensive, high-quality medications.