CONTAMINATED COUGH SYRUP LINKED TO 66 CHILD DEATHS IN THE GAMBIA

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/contaminated-cough-syrup-linked-to-66-child-deaths-in-the-gambia/4016373.article

Tags: Gambia, public, discovery, death, ethylene_glycol, illegal, pharmaceutical

Indian generics firm Maiden Pharmaceuticals has been implicated in the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia, West Africa.

On 5 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a special alert focusing on four substandard cough syrups: Promethazine oral solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup, all manufactured by Maiden, which is based in the north Indian state of Haryana. These products are ‘potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children’ in The Gambia, the report states. ‘WHO recommends all countries detect and remove these products from circulation to prevent further harm to patients,’ director general Tedros Ghebreyesus stated.

Toxic ethylene glycol and dietheylene glycol were discovered in samples taken from the implicated cough syrups, which are often used to treat children

According to the WHO, at the end of July 2022, the Gambian government received information about an increase in acute kidney injuries among young children from Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, the country’s main hospital. By 30 September, 78 cases had been reported including 66 deaths. About 72% of these cases were under two years old, reported from six out of the country’s seven health regions.

The link with cough syrups was discovered after samples of medicines used by the children were sent to labs in Senegal and Ghana – since The Gambia has no such facilities. Testing identified toxic contaminants diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. The government began recalling the products from 2 October and has banned further sales. A door-to-door search aims to recover those already distributed and the police are investigating. More than 16,000 products have been located and confiscated for destruction. The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow has stated that his country will go to the bottom of this tragedy and is negotiating with the World Bank to create testing facilities.