Cough syrup case: Central team, UP drug dept collect 6 more samples

A team of central agencies and the Uttar Pradesh drug department on Thursday carried out an inspection at the Noida office of a pharmaceutical firm whose cough syrup is allegedly linked to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan, officials said.

The inspection at Marion Biotech started at around 12 pm and continued for over 10 hours during which six more samples of the syrup were taken, they said.

The inspection team had four members --  two drug inspectors from Centre, one drug inspector from Noida and one assistant drug commissioner of Meerut division, according to an official.

Marion Biotech does not sell the cough syrup, 'Doc-1 Max', in India and its only export has been to Uzbekistan, the state government official said.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has initiated a probe in connection with the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan allegedly linked to Marion Biotech.

The health ministry of Uzbekistan has claimed that the 18 children had consumed the cough syrup.

The inspection began at Marion Biotech's office in Noida Sector 67 on Thursday morning, Gautam Buddh Nagar Drug Inspector Vaibhav Babbar told PTI.

"Depending on the documents and physical inspection at the site, we have stopped the production (of the syrup) with immediate effect. Since, the medicines have been exported, today we have taken six more samples. The production will remain halted till the results of the sample do not come and documents pertaining to their production are not received. It's in public interest," Babbar said.

"Some samples would go to a central testing lab while some in the state," the officer said, adding their results are expected "within a few days".

On production quantity, he estimated that the company exported around 1 lakh syrups in 45 days.

The firm makes syrups, tablets and ointments also, he added.

Hasan Harris, legal representative of Marion Biotech, said the governments of both countries are looking into the matter and inquiring.

"There is no problem from our end and no issue in testing. We have been there for the past 10 years. Once the government report will come, we will look into it. For now the manufacturing has stopped," Harris said.

Babbar said on December 27, an inspection was carried out by a team of the Centre in which samples of five medicines were taken for testing.

"The company does not have any domestic market and has only one export market which is Uzbekistan. No product (Doc-1 Max) has been sold in India," the drug inspector told PTI.

The company is currently operational and they have all mandatory licenses and approvals, including certificate of pharmaceutical product (CoPP) for export which is granted by the Centre, he said.

"Now the investigation underway is to find out from where they procured the raw material and where all it has been used," he said.

The company has been operational since 2010, he added.

When checked by PTI, the website of Marion Biotech was found inaccessible since Thursday morning.

"Error establishing a database connection (sic)," read a message on the homepage of HYPERLINK "http://marionbiotech.com"marionbiotech.com.