Haryana govt orders to stop production of cough syrups by Maiden Pharma

Chandigarh, Oct 12: The Haryana government has passed an order to stop the production of cough syrups manufactured by the Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which has come under scanner for 'sub-standard' and 'contaminated' cough syrups potentially linked to the deaths of 66 children in the Gambia, state home minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday.

"Samples of 3 drugs mentioned by WHO of Sonipat's pharmaceuticals company were sent to Central Drug Lab in Kolkata. The reports are not in yet, action will be taken after that," ANI quoted Anil Vij in a tweet.

He said that after the Central and Haryana state drug departments conducted a joint inspection around 12 flaws were found. "Keeping which in mind, it's been decided that the total production shall be stopped and notice given," he added.

The company has failed to perform quality testing of a raw material used in the manufacture of one of the medicines, as per a report in Hindustan Times.

"The firm has not performed the quality testing of propylene glycol for diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol," the October 7 notice read, as per a report published in Hindustan Times.

The pharma company has been asked to give a reply to the notice by October 14 and action will be taken if it fails to respond, the report stated.

However, Naresh Goyal, managing director of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, has said that their products had nothing to do with the deaths, The Times of India reported.

"Medicines Control Agency (national medicines regulator of The Gambia) only recalled the products. They never said that they resulted in deaths," he said. "The deaths have been due to paracetamol syrup and not due to our cough syrups," the daily quoted him as saying.