Manufacturing of drugs at Marion Biotech stopped

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 30

The manufacturing activities at Noida-based Marion Biotech have been closed pending investigation, the government said on Friday, close on the heels of Uzbekistan health ministry linking the death of 18 children in the country to Dok-1 Max cough syrups and tablets produced at the firm’s Noida unit.

“Following inspection by a Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) team in view of reports of contamination in cough syrup Dok-1 Max, all manufacturing activities of Marion Biotech at its Noida unit were stopped yesterday night… further investigation is on,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said today.

The CDSCO and Uttar Pradesh drug controller teams had inspected the firm yesterday and sent samples of the drug in question for testing to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory in Chandigarh. The report is awaited.

The government had earlier followed the same route in the case of death of 70 Gambian children allegedly due to the consumption of contaminated cough syrups made by Sonepat-based Maiden Pharma. Pending the lab report of the samples from Maiden Pharma, the firm was closed for manufacturing. It is still closed even though the apex drug regulator CDSCO, in a recent letter to the WHO, said no contamination was detected, as claimed by the world body in its October 5 global alert.

The CDSCO has, however, not permitted reopening of Maiden Pharma in Sonepat, despite concluding that control samples (the ones exported to Gambia and potentially linked to child deaths) didn’t contain diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol, as claimed in the WHO alert.

The CDSCO and state drug controllers have begun inspecting “identified drug factories” to weed out spurious and substandard drugs, in a major step to protect India’s reputation as “Pharmacy of the World”.

India is eyeing a massive boost to the pharmaceutical sector over the coming years for which the reputation of the domestic industry needs to be above board.

Guarding reputation

• Step part of government efforts to protect the reputation of India as ‘Pharmacy of the World’
• India eyeing a massive opportunity for its pharmaceutical sector, including patent market, in near future
• Between 2018 and 2024, patents worth USD 251 billion are expected to expire globally