Made in India medicines: Since the row over cough syrups manufactured in India that linked deaths of 70 children in Gambia with Sonipat’s Maiden Pharma unit, joint teams of central and state regulators have conducted unscheduled inspections of pharmaceutical manufacturing units all over the country. As per experts the drugs regulatory bodies of India are in touch with their counterparts from where allegations over Indian made drugs have been made. The surprise inspections are made to ensure that quality of drugs being produced is not compromised. In December last year, 18 deaths of children in Uzbekistan were linked to a syrup manufactured by a Noida-based drugs manufacturer, Marion Biotech.
Heightened pharma surveillance measures
The new inspections being jointly carried out by central and state authorities comes after government’s resolve to counter the adverse effects that row over Indian made drugs brought about in the past half year. In October of last year World Health Organisation issued alert for four cough syrups. India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals manufactured these cough syrups, which are Magrip N Cold Syrup, Promethazine Oral Solution, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup,. These pharmaceuticals were linked to deaths of 70 children in Gambia. The 20 States where joint inspections have been carried out are Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Dehli, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Over 200 companies have been inspected in these states. At least 70 companies have been issued show cause notice while 18 of these companies have been asked to permanently their operations.
Also Read: ‘India will never bargain on quality of medicines’; Health Minister on cough syrup row
Scrutiny of Indian manufactured Pharmaceuticals
According to a report by Reuters, the nation of Gambia has made it mandatory for all pharmaceutical products imported from India to be inspected and tested from the beginning of July. Indian authorities met with their African counterparts in April to ensure that its drug manufacture export did not suffer after the incident in Gambia. Out of the 20 pharmaceutical products against whom WHO issued medical product alert over 300 death globally, 7 are manufactured in India. As per another report by Bloomberg, US Food and Drug Administration has recently sent out dozens of notices to Indian pharmaceutical companies as it restarts its on-site inspections post-pandemic. Recently, Indian authorities launched a probe over allegation of bribery in relation to testing of cough syrup that was linked to deaths in Gambia. A lawyer named Yashpal accused the Haryana state’s drug controller, Manmohan Taneja, of taking a bribe of 5 crore rupees from local manufacturer Maiden Pharmaceuticals to help it switch the samples before an Indian government laboratory tested them.
Also Read: ICMR’s to study on Covid jabs-heart attack link
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER
