Maiden Pharmaceuticals: With a burgeoning rise in fake medicines, we have often been asked by ourselves about the authenticity of the drug consumed because there have been cases of spurious medicines causing danger to human lives. On one hand, the government is trying to curb this menace. While at the other, some money-grubbing ‘intellects’ are busy weighing their pockets more. To highlight and alert the people, the WHO has recently warned about Indian medicines causing harm to people.
WHO warns for medicines killing people
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised a warning against four fever, cold, and cough syrups made by an Indian company. The warning came after the death of 66 children in the Gambia. The red-flagged medicines by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals included Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
The WHO alerted while saying, “Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants. To date, these four products have been identified in the Gambia, but may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions.” Additionally, it included the products “should be considered as unsafe” till they are analysed by the respective national regulatory authorities.
According to the Indian Express, WHO found that 4 of 23 samples were contaminated with diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol. Further as per reports, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) launched an investigation to probe the matter. Further, the state regulatory authority of Haryana confirmed that the Maiden Pharmaceuticals company did manufacture and supplied the syrups to the Gambia.
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People are continuously losing lives
Notably, it’s not the first time that the world is witnessing such deadly cases. In India, 17 children were reported dead in Jammu and Kashmir after consuming a cough syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol, in the year 2020. In another incident, Delhi reported death of around 3 children after consuming a cough syrup with dextromethorphan.
According to data from the World Health Organization, around 10 per cent of medical items in low or middle income countries are substandard or fake. No country has remained untouched by this issue. What was once considered a problem for developing or low-income nations has now become a concern for all.
To put it simply, there have been numerous instances of substandard drugs circulated in the market over the years. As per WHO, various children die every year due to diseases like pneumonia, and malaria, among others which are caused by substandard and falsified medicines.
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Government trying to control the menace
To control the ratio of people dying from counterfeit and substandard medicines, the government is continuously working to curb the already spread menace. For this purpose, it has recently launched a ‘track and trace’ mechanism for top-selling medicines to mitigate the issue in the market.
According to the Times of India, around 300 top-selling drug companies will be required to print barcodes or quick response (QR) codes on their primary packaging such as bottles, cans, and jars, among others that contain saleable items.
The proposed system by the government will now allow customers to authenticate the drug-related information through government portals. Further, as per industry experts, the proposed technical solution will allow consumers and manufacturers to report any counterfeit through pharma codes.
Apart from this, there have been several counterfeit cases that shook the pharmaceutical industry. Abbott said its thyroid medication ‘Thyronorm’ was listed as “not of standard quality” by the Telangana drugs authority. It was further counterfeit and was not manufactured or marketed by it.
On the other hand, some ill minded suppliers are busy in financial expansion even at the cost of human lives. There is an intrinsic and immediate need to control the burgeoning supply of substandard medicines to save hundreds and thousands of innocent human lives getting trapped under the sheet. With an intention to expand, people should not suffer because, every life matters.
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