Council suspends Maiden Pharma’s membership

New Delhi, October 8

The Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) has suspended the membership of Sonepat-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the exporter of allegedly ‘substandard’ paediatric cough syrups to The Gambia.

“As far as the WHO is concerned, our manufacturer is involved… it is very serious,” said Pharmexcil Director-General Ravi Udaya Bhaskar, who said the incident was a serious dent in the reputation of the Indian pharma industry and exports.

“The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the Haryana State Drugs Controller need to quicken the process of investigation… send a message to the world that they are alert and working on it,’’ he said while suggesting that Pharmexcil would also write to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to suspend the Import-Export Code of the company. Pharmexcil’s efforts to distance itself from the company follows revelations that it had been a repeat offender in both domestic and export markets.

The Health Ministry asked the CDSCO to begin a probe after the WHO informed it that four contaminated medicines from an Indian drug maker could be “potentially linked” to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in The Gambia.

The four medicines are cough and cold syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals.