Indian cough syrups linked to child deaths not shipped to US, FDA says

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that toxic cough syrups linked to children’s deaths in India had not been shipped to the United States.

The World Health Organization has said India has a “regulatory gap” in screening locally sold cough syrup medicines.

The U.S. FDA said it was aware of news reports of devastating, ongoing diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol contamination in children’s cough syrup and cold medicine in India.

Indian authorities advised the public to avoid two more brands of cough syrup on Wednesday following the deaths of 17 children under age five, linked to a toxic ingredient.

The children died in India over the past month after consuming cough medicine containing toxic diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit, officials said. The deaths were all linked to the Coldrif medicine brand, which was banned after a test confirmed the presence of the chemical on October 2.

India’s health authority, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, informed the U.S. regulator that these products were not exported from India to any other country, the FDA said.

The FDA also said it remains vigilant to prevent contaminated drugs from entering the U.S. and asked manufacturers to ensure that drugs marketed in the U.S. are safe and of the highest quality.

Read Also: Cough syrup death toll reaches 24 in India’s Madhya Pradesh

The alleged cough syrup-related deaths in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have risen to 24, officials said.

The children, mostly under the age of five, have died in the past month due to suspected renal failure after developing complications following the consumption of cough syrup, namely Coldrif.

“The death toll of children related to the adulterated cough syrup has risen to 25, but authorities so far have confirmed only 24 fatalities. The death of one more child is yet to be confirmed officially,” a local government official said.

Over 20 deaths have been reported from the state’s Chhindwara district alone.

The cough syrup manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals, based in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram, has been found adulterated with over 45 percent of diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial solvent.