On Monday she called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines. Numerous cases of confirmed or suspected diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol contamination of children’s cough syrups have been reported in at least seven countries over the past four months. According to the WHO, more than 300 children in The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney damage last year – these deaths were attributed to contaminated medicines. Most were young children under the age of five.
Antifreeze in cough syrups
According to the WHO, the contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze that can be deadly in small amounts. “They should never be in medicines.” The WHO issued three medical alerts on the incidents in The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan between early October and mid-January, which were also forwarded to the national health authorities of the 194 WHO member states. In these warnings, she calls, among other things, for contaminated medicines to be withdrawn from circulation and for increased monitoring of the supply chains in the countries concerned.
Since these are not isolated cases, regulators and governments must ensure that only drugs approved for sale enter the market and are sourced from licensed suppliers. Better resources for inspections of production sites and increased market surveillance, including targeted testing, are also needed. Among other things, the drug manufacturers called on the WHO to only source pharmaceutical-grade excipients from qualified suppliers, conduct extensive testing and keep accurate records of material purchases through distribution to facilitate traceability in the event of any incidents.
The WHO had sent out product warnings for cough syrups from the Indian companies Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Marion Biotech, which are associated with the deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan, respectively. She also warned against cough syrups from the four Indonesian manufacturers PT Yarindo Farmatama, PT Universal Pharmaceutical, PT Konimex and PT AFI Pharma, which were sold in Indonesia. The companies have either denied that their products are contaminated or declined to comment while investigations are ongoing.
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