Two more Indian companies are suspected of making similarly tainted syrups found in Liberia and Marshall Island although no injuries have been reported in those cases.
New Delhi: ‘Made in India’ cough syrups have once again become the talking point after the deaths of a dozen children in Cameroon. The cough syrup that the authorities suspect is behind the unfortunate deaths in the central African country bears marking indicating it was made in India, according to a Bloomberg report.
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It says that photographs of Naturcold medication show a manufacturing license number matching that of Indore-based Riemann Labs Pvt. Ltd. However, these photographs, which were provided by a regional health official in Cameroon who goes by the name Eko Eko Filbert, don’t show the manufacturer’s name.
Navin Bhatia, one of the directors at Riemann Labs Pvt. Ltd., said that the drugs in the photo “look like ours,” according to Bloomberg. He also added that Riemann follows strict quality controls and couldn’t have made tainted medicine, and that counterfeiting is common.
If true, this will be the third such incident reported in less than a year. Cough syrups manufactured by two other Indian companies allegedly killed more than 60 children in Gambia and about 20 in Uzbekistan last year. The medications of the cough syrups, in both cases, were found to have been contaminated with two toxic chemicals, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol.
Apart from the ones reported above, two more Indian companies are suspected of making similarly tainted syrups found in Liberia and Marshall Island although no injuries have been reported in those cases.
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“Based on your questions, we have sent a team to investigate and we are waiting for the reports,” an official at the Madhya Pradesh Food and Drugs Administration told Bloomberg.
Filbert told media that the Cameroonian authorities are still investigating the cause of the outbreak and plan to test the Naturcold samples connected to the deaths. As per Filbert, 12 children have died in related incidents till 5 June 2023.
The health official also said that the aforementioned cough syrup was not authorized to be imported into Cameroon and was probably smuggled into the country. He said authorities don’t have information about the drugs’ origin.
In the photos that were accessed by Bloomberg, the product label said it was made in March 2022. It also bears the name and logo of Fraken International, a marketing company with a UK address.
Riemann’s Navin Bhatia said that the company last produced a batch of Naturcold under contract for Fraken in early 2022 and provided it to an exporter who reported sending it to Cameroon. He also said that Riemann is one of several Indian companies that have made the product.
Two key raw materials for syrups, propylene glycol and glycerin, are being bought in sealed containers from name-brand manufacturers by Reimann. The company then hires a third-party lab to test them prior to use, Bhatia told Bloomberg.
“We pay extra attention to quality,” he added. “Everything is done to ensure safety.”
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Duplicacy, a term for when a drug is disguised to look like another company’s product, is common in some parts of Africa, Bhatia said.
“They look like ours, but we cannot be sure. There is so much duplicacy there. Based on the quality of our product, it is doubtful,” he said. “I am 110% sure that my product is not contaminated — what we sent from here.”
