NEW DELHI (Reuters): India has directed Riemann Labs, a manufacturer linked to cough syrup deaths in Cameroon, to stop manufacturing activities, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Earlier, India had suspended a drugmaker’s manufacturing licence after the World Health Organization flagged contamination in its cough syrups found in the Mashall Islands and Micronesia in April.
Indian regulators are inspecting drugmakers after cough syrups made in the country were linked to at least 89 child deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan last year, which has damaged India’s image as the “pharmacy of the world” providing affordable drugs globally.
“Drug samples drawn from the manufacturing premises were declared as ‘not of standard quality’,” Deputy Health Minister Bharati Pravin Pawar told the parliament.
India has tightened its testing of cough syrup exports since June, making it mandatory for companies to obtain a certificate of analysis from a government laboratory before exporting products.
