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On April 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had discovered in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia shipments of cough syrup containing toxic substances produced by an Indian company.
The WHO statement did not say whether the Marshall Islands and Micronesia had reported any cases of poisoning in children related to the product. However, it did state that samples of the "Guaifenesin syrup TG syrup" product contained toxic levels of diethylene and ethylene glycol, which could lead to death. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has determined the toxic levels in the cough medicine.
Last year, the WHO issued a warning about cough syrups made by manufacturers in India and Indonesia, which were linked to 300 deaths in children, mostly under the age of five, in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The deaths were all due to acute kidney injury.
Red Cross workers recall cough syrup suspected of causing child deaths in Banjul, Gambia on October 6, 2022
According to WHO, the manufacturer of the new batches discovered in the Western Pacific is QP Pharmachem Ltd of India, headquartered in Punjab, and the intermediary marketing the products is Trillium Pharma, headquartered in Haryana, India. WHO said that QP Pharmachem and Trillium products have not been approved by the organization for safety and quality.
Meanwhile, QP Pharmachem CEO Sudhir Pathak confirmed that the cough syrup samples from the export batch were tested and nothing of concern was found. Mr. Pathak also said that there were no negative feedbacks related to the cough syrup products that the company has distributed in India.
According to Mr. Pathak, QP Pharmachem was granted permission by the Indian Government to export 18,000 bottles of cough syrup to Cambodia, but it is unclear why these products ended up in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. Meanwhile, Trillium Pharma has not responded.
WHO has called on countries to strengthen their surveillance to ensure that potentially contaminated products are detected. The agency said it is working with countries to test medicinal products for toxins.
According to VNA
