Police launch manslaughter probe into India's cough syrup deaths

Indian police have opened a manslaughter probe into the deaths of at least 14 children linked to a toxic cough syrup, dealing another blow to the reputation of the country’s pharmaceutical industry after a string of similar tragedies in recent years.

Most of the children were under the age of five and died of kidney failure in the past month after consuming cough medicine branded Coldrif Syrup. The syrup contained the toxin diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit, according to a police complaint seen by Reuters.

Diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol toxins were found in Indian-made cough syrups that have killed at least 141 children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022, and another 12 children in India in 2019, damaging the image of the world's third-biggest drug-manufacturing country by volume.

"All the children had early symptoms of common cold, flu or fever, and most were under the age of five years," said the police complaint filed on Sunday in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. "Most of them were given Coldrif syrup, following which they suffered from urine retention and acute kidney disorder."

The report said at least 16 children had kidney problems after taking the syrup, indicating the death toll could rise. It is already one of the worst such recorded cough syrup poisoning in India.

Diethylene glycol, used in products from anti-freeze to cosmetics and lubricants, causes symptoms that the World Health Organization says may range from vomiting and abdominal pain to acute kidney injury, which can cause death.

Police have named Coldrif manufacturer Sresan Pharma as one of the main accused and arrested a doctor who prescribed the medicine to most of the children.

Sresan Pharma did not respond to a request for comment.

Federal authorities said on Sunday they had recommended cancelling the manufacturing licence of Sresan, and several states have banned the syrup, which had been only sold in India, according to a government summary of the medicine's sales seen by Reuters on Monday.