Child deaths in Gambia linked to syrups made in India

The deaths of dozens of young children in Gambia from acute kidney injuries may be linked to contaminated cough and cold syrups made by an Indian drug manufacturer, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The findings, announced by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, followed tests on several medicinal syrups that were suspected of causing 66 child deaths in the tiny West African country.
Tedros told reporters that the UN agency was conducting an investigation with Indian regulators and the company that made the syrups, New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Maiden Pharma declined to comment, while calls and messages to the Drugs Controller General of India went unanswered.

The Indian Express newspaper reported on Thursday, citing sources, that the Indian drug regulator had launched an investigation after it was informed of the issue on 29 September.

The health body said that laboratory analysis has confirmed that the syrups contain "unacceptable amounts" of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which are toxic to humans and can prove fatal when consumed.

The WHO said that so far, the products have been identified in Gambia, but that they may have been distributed to other countries through informal markets.

"All batches of these products should be considered unsafe until they can be analysed by the relevant National Regulatory Authorities," it added.
India produces a third of the world's medicines, mostly in the form of generic drugs.

Home to some of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies, the country is known as the "world's pharmacy" and meets much of the medical needs of African nations.

Maiden Pharmaceuticals manufactures medicines at its facilities in India, which it then sells domestically as well as exporting them to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to its website.

Medical officers in Gambia first raised the alarm in July after dozens of children were diagnosed with serious kidney problems.

Gambia's director of health services, Mustapha Bittaye, told Reuters that the number of deaths has gone down in recent weeks and that the country had banned the sale of the products.

Gambia’s Medicines Control Agency sent a letter on Tuesday to health professionals ordering them to ‘stop selling’ any of the products listed by WHO.

"However, until recently, some of the syrups were still being sold in private clinics and in hospitals," he was quoted as saying.