Representative image of cough syrup.
Credit: Pixabay Photo
Chennai: Chennai: With the death toll among children from contaminated cough syrup rising to 20 in Madhya Pradesh, the Tamil Nadu government has sealed the Sresan Pharmaceuticals factory in Sunguvarchatiram near Chennai. The State Drugs Control Department has also issued two show-cause notices to the manufacturer, directing it to recall all remaining stock and provide complete distribution records within five days.
Even as 20 children died after consuming Coldrif -- the cough syrup found to be contaminated according to lab reports -- five more remain in critical condition. The incident, which made national headlines, prompted authorities to seal the factory, which operated from a dingy building in Sunguvarchatiram on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway.
The Tamil Nadu government took action on the same day the State Drugs Control Department issued notices to Dr. G Ranganathan and K Maheswari, proprietor and analytical chemist of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, respectively. The notices followed findings of about 350 violations at the pharmaceutical company, and a lab test revealing the syrup contained 48.6 percent diethylene glycol, an industrial chemical that can cause renal failure.
Sresan Pharmaceuticals holds a license to manufacture the cough syrup until 2026.
“The sample has been declared as Not of Standard Quality by the Government Analyst (Drugs), Drugs Testing Laboratory, Chennai, because it was found to be adulterated with diethylene glycol,” stated the notice signed by the Senior Drugs Inspector, Kanchipuram zone.
The notice sought details such as the total quantity of the drug manufactured, distribution records, master formula, and batch packaging documentation. “The firm is also required to recall the drug from recipients and furnish details of recalled stock,” the notice added.
It further stated that the sample was misbranded for omitting the mandatory label warning: “fixed dose combination shall not be used in children below four years of age.”
Wednesday also saw a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) from the Madhya Pradesh government visit the now-closed factory and engage with local residents. Assisted by Tamil Nadu police, the team later visited the company’s registered city address and collected relevant material for the ongoing inquiry.
“The team collected CCTV footage from the premises,” a Tamil Nadu police source said.
The SIT is searching for Ranganathan, the company’s owner, who has been missing for three days since Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu banned the syrup following the reported deaths.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) issued an advisory urging the public to immediately stop using two cough syrups --Relife and Respifresh TR -- which have also been found to be adulterated with diethylene glycol. Both products are made in Gujarat.
This warning follows notification from the Drug Testing Laboratory of the Government of Madhya Pradesh, which detected DEG contamination in these syrups. It is the second such advisory from Telangana in recent days, following the earlier warning against Coldrif.
(With inputs from S N V Sudhir in Hyderabad)