India reveals more toxic syrups months after poisoning deaths (updated)

Norris Medicines

04/10/2023 13:39

(Adds details, quotes)
    By Krishna N. Das and Sumit Khanna
       NEW DELHI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - India's drug regulator has
found that a cough syrup and an anti-allergy syrup made by
Norris Medicines  NORI.BO  are toxic, according to a government
report, months after Indian-made cough syrups were linked to 141
children's deaths worldwide.
    The medicines were contaminated either with diethylene
glycol (DEG) or ethylene glycol (EG), the same contaminants
found in the cough syrups that caused the deaths in Gambia,
Uzbekistan and Cameroon since the middle of last year.
    H.G. Koshia, commissioner of Gujarat state's Food and Drug
Control Administration, told Reuters on Wednesday that they
inspected Norris's factory last month and ordered it to suspend
production.
    "The company failed miserably on compliance parameters of
good manufacturing practices," Koshia said. "Adequate water
system was not there. The air-handling unit was also not up to
the mark. In the larger interest of public health, we ordered
the unit to stop production."
    Norris did not respond to an email seeking comment. Its
office numbers were not in service when Reuters called.
    The federal drug regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation (CDSCO), also found three batches of COLD OUT syrup
made by Fourrts (India) Laboratories contaminated with DEG and
EG, according to its list of "not of standard
quality/spurious/adulterated/misbranded" drugs for August
uploaded on its website.
    The World Health Organisation said in August that a batch of
COLD OUT sold in Iraq had unacceptable levels of DEG and EG.
    Fourrts Chairman S.V. Veeramani did not respond to a request
for comment.
    Veeramani, who is the chairman of the government-backed
Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, told Reuters
in August that a recent "analysis of retention samples" of COLD
OUT showed there was "no contamination or toxins".
    "There is no report of any adverse effect or death due to
the product," he said in a WhatsApp message. "As a matter of
abundant caution, we have voluntarily recalled the product in
Iraq market."

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SPECIAL REPORT-Lax testing fuelled wave of cough syrup
poisonings     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N3AO2MH
FACTBOX-India's contaminated cough syrup cases     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N3AO2TE
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 (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Nick Macfie)
 ((Krishna.Das@tr.com; https://twitter.com/krishnadas56 ;))