Experts for public labs to detect contamination

AMIDST the increasing cases of children death linked to cough syrup contamination with the recent one in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara on October 31, experts have advocated that public drug testing labs should adopt advanced testing methods to detect contamination in cough syrups.

- SHARDUL NAUTIYAL, MUMBAI

Ghaziabad based Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) under the Union Health Ministry has also rolled out a series of hands on training workshops for public drug testing labs pan India, according to official sources.

These workshops will prominently feature training in gas chromatography (GC) for testing contamination with high levels of ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) in medicines.

A five-month-old girl died in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district allegedly after consuming Ayurvedic cough syrup. The incident comes amid the deaths of 25 children over the past two months in Chhindwara and neighbouring districts due to renal failure linked to 'Coldrif', an allopathic cough syrup found contaminated with high levels of toxic industrial solvents like ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) in medicines.

In the Coldrif syrup case, the police have so far arrested six persons, including proprietor of the manufacturing company Sresan Pharmaceuticals, and a local paediatrician.

Close on the heels of such growing incidents, the IPC has developed a free toolkit by compiling pharmacopoeial and regulatory resources to address contamination with high levels of EG and DEG associated with liquid oral medicines, particularly in allergy, cold and cough syrups.

This document serves as a comprehensive reference, compiling key general chapters and monographs from the IP, available reference standards, along with relevant international guidances. The resources are intended to support excipients and raw material suppliers, drug manufacturers, testing laboratories, and regulatory agencies.