India cracks down on pharma companies over poor-quality drugs after adverse overseas reports

While India is called the world's pharma capital, deaths of children in countries such as The Gambia and Uzbekistan after allegedly consuming cough syrups made in the South Asian nation seem to have hit its image in the international fraternity.

To deal with the situation, the country's health ministry has said that licenses of as many as 18 pharma companies have been scrapped and they have been asked to halt manufacturing, adding that show-cause notices have also been given to 26 firms, NDTV reported.

The report added that the strict orders came as part of an ongoing crackdown on pharma companies amid allegations of sale of spurious drugs from India overseas.

It was also learnt that the drugs controller general of India carried out surprise inspections on more than 70 pharmaceutical firms and they were carried out by teams from both the federal government and states. Action was taken in as many as 20 states, the report said.

The campaign has gone on for about 15 days.

The inspections took place amid reports of deaths and illnesses caused by Indian drugs in several nations.

In February, Zydus Lifesciences, a pharma company based out of the western state of Gujarat, recalled more than 55,000 bottles of a generic medicine used for the treatment of gout in the US as it did not meet the impurities specifications test.

In Noida near Delhi, three employees of a pharmaceutical company were arrested after its cough syrup allegedly caused deaths of 18 children in the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan in 2022. They were accused of making and selling adulterated drugs.

Also, a pharmaceutical company based in Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu suspended manufacturing of a line of eye drops after health authorities in the US said they could be contaminated with a drug-resistant bacteria that have been linked to reports of permanent loss of vision and even a death.

Also last year, more than 70 children died in The Gambia after allegedly consuming four cough syrups made in India.