29/12/2022
Marion Biotech: Uzbekistan links child deaths to India cough syrup
Uzbekistan's health ministry has said that 18 children have died after drinking a cough syrup manufactured by Indian drug maker Marion Biotech.
The ministry said that preliminary tests showed a batch of the medicine contained ethylene glycol, a toxic substance.
The children were given the Dok-1 Max syrup without a doctor's prescription, it said.
The amount they consumed also exceeded the standard dose for children.
The allegation from Uzbekistan comes weeks after The Gambia also linked child deaths to cough syrups made by another Indian firm.
India's health ministry said in a statement that its officials have been "in regular contact with the national drug regulator of Uzbekistan regarding the matter" since 27 December.
It added that health officials have conducted an inspection of Marion Biotech's facility in Noida in Uttar Pradesh state.
"The samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises and sent to Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh for testing," the statement added.
Marion Biotech has not responded to the BBC's request for comment yet.
News agency ANI has quoted a Marion Biotech executive as saying that the company has halted production of the syrup temporarily. He added that the government was conducting an enquiry and that the firm would take action accordingly.
Marion Biotech is based in Noida, near India's national capital Delhi. Its website is currently down, but the company's LinkedIn page says it was founded in 1999 and that its products are "household names in Central Asian countries, Central and Latin America, South East Asia and Africa".
India produces a third of the world's medicines, mostly in the form of generic drugs.
The country, home to some of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies, is known as the "world's pharmacy" and meets much of the medical needs of developing countries.
The Uzbek min
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