2 yrs after deaths in Africa, MP acts on syrup maker

Drug inspectors in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against city-based Reimann Labs, whose contaminated cough syrup Killed 12 children in Cameroon in 2023, but only after the Chhindwara children deaths this September-October due to a product by another company, officials said.

- Shruti Tomar

The complaint comes 21 months after the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the company’s Naturecold cough syrup as responsible for the Cameroon deaths and 15 months after laboratory tests in India confirmed toxic contamination levels.

In 2023, Reimann Labs’ Naturecold syrup was found to contain 28.2% diethylene glycol (DEG) versus the permissible limit of 0.1%—making it 282 times over the safe threshold. Twelve children in Cameroon died after consuming the syrup.

Following WHO's alert in August 2023, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation ordered immediate closure of the Reimann Labs facility on Sanwer Road in Indore. Union minister of state for health Bharati Pawar had informed the Rajya Sabha in August 2023 that a joint inspection by CDSCO and the MP Drug Controller confirmed severe violations, which led to the cancellation of the company’s licence the same month.

Subsequent testing by the MP Drug Controller—at both the state laboratory and Central Drug Laboratory in Kolkata— confirmed DEG levels at 26% in December 2023.