Centre seeks causality status as Uzbekistan links deaths of 18 kids to Indian syrup

Dok-1 Max is manufactured by the Uttar Pradesh-based Marion Biotech. (Image: Marion Biotech)

By Milan Sharma: The Union government has sought a causality status after Uzbekistan on Wednesday linked the deaths of 18 kids to an Indian cough syrup, sources said.

The health ministry of Uzbekistan has alleged that 18 children have died in the country after consuming medicines manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company, months after a similar incident was reported in Gambia. The company in question, Marion Biotech, was registered in 2012 in Uzbekistan.

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In a statement, Uzbekistan health ministry said the children who died had consumed the Dok-1 Max Syrup produced by Noida-based Marion Biotech. To date, 18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory disease have died as a result of taking Doc-1 Max syrup, the ministry said.

"It was found that the deceased children, before admission to hospital treatment, took this drug at home for 2-7 days 3-4 times a day, 2.5-5 ml, which exceeds the standard dose of the drug for children," the statement noted.

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It added that primary laboratory studies have showed the presence of ethylene glycol—the deadly chemical which was held responsible for deaths in the Gambia—in the Dok-1 Max syrup.

Meanwhile, sources in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) have revealed that this particular syrup is currently not being sold in the Indian market.