Hours after the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an alert over four cough syrups made in India, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) launched a probe over the drugs that have been linked to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in The Gambia.
The four cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in Haryana—Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup—failed the tests because they had unsafe levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as impurities.
‘To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products. These four products have been identified in The Gambia, but may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions,’ WHO said in its alert.
Diethylene Glycol (DEG), often known as ethylene glycol, is hazardous to humans and can be lethal, according to the WHO. When taken as a medicine, it can be hazardous to the kidneys and the nervous system and has been linked to multiple episodes of mass poisoning.
The chemical, which is used in antifreeze, brake fluids, cosmetics, and lubricants, causes renal insufficiency and failure and may even result in coma and death, according to a report in the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.
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