SWITZERLAND —The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded an alarm yet another time over a batch of common cold syrup manufactured in India, highlighting its substandard quality.
This disconcerting event marks the fifth instance in the past year where the global health sentinel has issued a concerning alert regarding syrups originating from India.
The latest warning cast by the WHO centers around a particular batch of ‘Cold Out’ syrup, produced by Fourrts (India) Laboratories for the Indian entity known as Dabilife Pharma.
This case draws even greater concern, as samples from this batch collected in Iraq revealed disturbingly high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, both deemed unacceptable contaminants.
Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, upon ingestion, can manifest in the form of symptoms such as vomiting, convulsions, circulatory disturbances, and even acute renal failure.
As the WHO points out, the permissible safety threshold for ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol stands at a mere 0.10 percent.
Alarming, yet indicative of the issue’s gravity, the health body revealed that neither the manufacturer nor the marketer of this common cold syrup could provide adequate assurances regarding the product’s safety.
“To date, the stated manufacturer and the marketer have not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of the product,” the WHO emphasized.
While Iraqi authorities have yet to report any illnesses attributed to the ‘Cold Out’ syrup, the situation is far from assuaged.
Recent news reports from Bloomberg reveal that the country’s health ministry disclosed the syrup’s failure in official tests, prompting the confiscation of circulating products from the market.
This distressing episode resonates deeply with previous incidents that made headlines. It was in October that the world first awoke to the grim reality of deaths caused by toxic cough syrups, as the WHO issued a global alert concerning four medicines produced by the Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals.
A chilling link emerged from Gambia, connecting 66 fatalities—many due to acute kidney failure—to the consumption of these four medicines.
In the ensuing months, the narrative expanded. In December, the WHO’s counsel warned against the use of two cough syrups manufactured by the Indian pharmaceutical player Marion Biotech.
The advisory came in the wake of Uzbekistan’s health ministry reporting the tragic demise of 18 children following their consumption of the Dok 1 Max syrup, a product emerging from Marion Biotech’s production line.
As April arrived, yet another unsettling discovery was unveiled by the WHO. This time, the scrutiny landed on an Indian drugmaker, unearthing the exportation of contaminated cough syrup to the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
The cough syrup, manufactured by QP Pharmachem Limited in Punjab and marketed by Trillium Pharma in Haryana, added another layer of complexity to the ongoing saga of pharmaceutical quality control.
The resounding message in this intricate web of events is the pressing need for robust quality control measures within the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in India, a nation known for its substantial pharmaceutical presence.
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