As many as 112 drugs and formulations in India, including some commonly used medicines like paracetamol, were found to be Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) by the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) in its monthly report for September, according to Livemint.
This includes 52 samples identified by the Central Drugs Laboratories and 60 samples tested by State Drugs Testing Laboratories.
The development comes less than a month after a fatal cough crisis claimed lives of 24 children in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh.
They had consumed Coldrif, a locally-made cough syrup that was later found to be adulterated, containing 48.6% Diethylene Glycol (DEG), the report said.
It was also one of the three cough syrups named by the World Health Organization on October 13 in its health advisory to warn about contaminated cough syrups. The UN body had also urged authorities to report any detection of these medicines in their countries to the health agency.
In late 2023, cough syrups made in India were linked to the deaths of over 140 children in Africa and Central Asia which prompted the government order pharmaceutical companies to invest in making their plants compliant to standards recommended by the WHO.
Coldrif-maker Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer was among the few smaller companies that sought reprieve and had not upgraded their facilities at the time.
Early this month, the CDSCO initiated a review of India’s new drug approval framework, inviting comments from stakeholders to address disparities in the approval process between first-mover applicants and subsequent entrants.