Indian authorities have arrested executives from two pharmaceutical companies following the deaths of children linked to contaminated cough syrups. The arrests come after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert over four India-made cough syrups suspected of causing the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.
In a separate incident, 11 children in India's Jammu region died in 2019 after consuming cough syrup containing diethylene glycol (DEG), an industrial solvent used in paints and brake fluids. Tests confirmed the presence of DEG in samples from Digital Vision, an Indian drug company.
India's pharmaceutical industry, valued at $42bn, supplies 40% of generic medicines in the US and a quarter of those in the UK. However, concerns over quality control and regulatory oversight have persisted. Between 2007 and 2020, over 7,500 drug samples from three Indian states failed quality tests, according to research by former drug executive Dinesh Thakur.
Analysts point to underfunded testing labs and weak enforcement as contributing factors. In 2014, India's top drug regulator stated that following US standards would require shutting down almost all drug facilities. The recent incidents have reignited debates about safety standards in India's pharmaceutical sector.
