HQ Team
January 25, 2023: The WHO called on stakeholders in various nations to take “immediate and coordinated action” to shield children from using contaminated cough syrups following deaths last year.
There were confirmed or suspected contamination with “high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. The cases are from at least seven countries, associated with more than 300 fatalities in three of these countries,” according to a WHO statement.
Most are young children under the age of five, according to the statement. These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal, even in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines.
The WHO issued three medical alerts in October, November and January to address these incidents.
The four products for which the alerts were issued in October were Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrups, made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals which allegedly resulted in the deaths of children in Gambia.
Indonesia alert
In November, eight products, confirmed by authorities in Indonesia, were identified by the WHO for its November alert. Six of them were manufactured by PT Ali Farma.
The two products, Ambronol and Dok-1 Mx Syrup, were under WHO scanner in January. The products were made by India’s Marion Biotech, which allegedly resulted in deaths in Uzbekistan.
“WHO is releasing an urgent call to action to countries to prevent, detect and respond to incidents of substandard and falsified medical products.”
The global health agency urged its 194 member states to detect and remove from circulation any substandard medical products that have been identified in the WHO medical alerts referred to above as potential causes of death and disease.
WHO called on manufacturers of medicines to purchase pharmaceutical-grade excipients from qualified suppliers and told all suppliers and distributors to check for signs of falsification and the physical condition of drugs.
