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In an independent survey conducted by the All Food and Drug Licence Holders Foundation (AFDLHF) over the past one week has revealed that cough syrups are being dispensed in retail pharmacies across Mumbai and Maharashtra without a doctor’s prescription.
The survey comes in the wake of the death of 20 children in Madhya Pradesh linked to contaminated Coldrif cough syrup manufactured by Tamil Nadu-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals.
As per the survey, more than 3,000 pharmaceutical marketing companies in Maharashtra procure cough syrups and medicines from other states under their own brands and sell them in urban areas of Maharashtra, such as Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Navi Mumbai, etc. However, it has been learnt that the cough syrups and medicines manufactured by these companies lack quality control.
It has also been found that many pharmaceutical companies have their headquarters in the slum areas of Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar districts.
In the wake of rampant sale of cough syrups without a prescription, the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has also launched a statewide inspection campaign against pharmacists selling cough syrup without a prescription and selling prescription drugs without a prescription.
Following the initial inspections, 88 retail pharmacies were ordered to stop selling drugs immediately and 107 have been served with show cause notices as to why their licenses should not be suspended or cancelled.
The Maharashtra FDA recently issued a 'Stop Use' notice in response to the test reports linking the deaths of several children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to a contaminated batch of Coldrif syrup (Batch No. SR-13) manufactured by Sresan Pharma of Tamil Nadu. The contaminated has tested positive for diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG is a highly toxic chemical known to cause fatal poisoning in medicines.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has also directed all drug controllers in the States and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure testing of raw materials and excipients before manufacturing and release of the batch to the market.
It has been learnt that drug manufacturers in India are known to rampantly use DEG as a cheaper substitute to pharmaceutical grade excipients such as glycerol, sorbitol and propylene glycol, mostly used as a viscosity enhancer or a thickening agent.
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