The Tamil Nadu government has banned the sale of the ‘Coldrif’ cough syrup produced by the state-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals, following suspicions about the medicine causing the death of 11 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The state government has also ordered the removal of the medicine from the market.
According to reports, the sale of the cough syrup manufactured by the Chennai-based firm Sresan Pharmaceuticals has been prohibited across Tamil Nadu from October 1.
Sresan Pharmaceuticals’ manufacturing facility in Sunguvarchathram in Kancheepuram district was inspected and samples were collected as part of the inspection. Reports stated that the company supplies medicines to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Puducherry.
The Union Health Ministry on Friday, October 3, issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories directing that the prescription of cough and cold medications to children below two years of age should not be allowed. The advisory was issued following the reports of deaths of children allegedly caused by contaminated cough syrups in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Chhindwara, nine children have died since early September after allegedly consuming the cough syrup.
Sresan Pharmaceuticals’ has been reportedly asked to halt the production of the syrup. Laboratory tests conducted in Tamil Nadu confirmed the presence of Diethylene Glycol, a highly toxic industrial chemical. This prompted the Madhya Pradesh government to ban the sale of Coldrif and all the medicines manufactured by the company.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the laboratory tests of the samples collected from Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh, where the child deaths were reported, detected neither Diethylene Glycol nor Ethylene Glycol. Both are industrial chemicals known to cause acute kidney injury.
Analysis of wider batches of the cough syrup is still pending. A multi-disciplinary expert team comprising representatives from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Institute of Virology (NIV), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), AIIMS Nagpur, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) and state authorities is investigating alternative causes for the deaths.