Almost 18 pharma firms to lose licenses over low-quality drugs, months after cough syrup deaths

In a matter of months, two Indian pharma companies Maiden and Marion pharmaceuticals have been linked to deaths of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan, who consumed their cough syrups. Although Maiden Pharma's executives including its founder Naresh Kumar Goel were jailed for a separate case of sending substandard drugs to Vietnam, Marion's employees were arrested over the Uzbekistan deaths.

With Indian pharma companies under the scanner, 18 firms are reportedly set to lose licenses as part of a regulatory crackdown.

Follows cough syrup deaths and drug recalls

The action comes after the controller general for drugs had cleared Maiden Pharma last year, and blamed WHO's notice barring its cough syrups for blemishing the reputation of Indian drugmakers.

After the death of around 60 children in Gambia in October 2022, Maiden Pharma's cough syrups had been linked to the incident, prompting World Health Organisation to take urgent measures.

As Indian authorities didn't find any contamination in Maiden's syrups, WHO stood by its action and Gambia's parliamentary panel found the firm culpable in deaths of children in December 2022.

Another case struck shortly after India cleared Maiden

In the same month, Marion Biotech's cough syrup was linked to deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan.

Last month WHO also released a report showing how Indian cough syrups were linked to 300 deaths across three countries since August 2022.

Before being pulled up for deaths in Gambia, Maiden had been blacklisted in Bihar in 2011, and prosecuted by India's drug inspector in 2018.