Cough syrup has been found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia with "unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” the World Health Organisation has said.
The organisation (WHO) has issued an alert after tested samples of Guaifenesin TG syrup, made by Punjab-based QP Pharmachem Ltd, were found to be contaminated.
The substances, which are both toxic to humans and potentially fatal if consumed, are the latest Indian-made medicines to have caused issues.
Other cough syrups made in the country were linked by the WHO to child deaths in the Gambia and Uzbekistan. India is now the world’s biggest exporter of medicines to Third World nations.
Reuters reported that it was not known if anybody had fallen ill in the Marshall Islands or Micronesia as a result of this latest incident.
A managing director of QP Pharmachem is quoted as saying the company had exported 18,348 bottles to Cambodia by legal means but was not sure how the load had reached the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
"We did not send these bottles to the Pacific region, and they were not certified for use there,” he told the BBC.
“We don’t know under what circumstances and conditions these bottles reached the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.”
He doubled down on this in an interview with CNBC TV-18.
“WHO has tested expired samples of our products without keeping us in the loop,” he said.
Additionally, he told Reuters: “We found it satisfactory and the regulator found it satisfactory, too.”
Mr Pathak also said the product is distributed in India as well and the company has not received any complaints so far.
The WHO reportedly said the syrup was tested by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, an Australian firm, and marketed by Indian-based Trillium Pharma.
Neither QP Pharmachem nor Trillium have provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products, the agency said in the statement.
Trillium was approached by Reuters, as well as the BBC, for a comment and had not responded at the time of writing.
