AKIPRESS.COM - The manufacturing license of Noida-based pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech has been cancelled by the authorities of Indian state Uttar Pradesh. The company can no longer manufacture the syrup. The investigation found that samples of Marion Biotech's drugs were "adulterated" and "not of standard quality". The case was initiated under three articles of the Criminal Code, Press Trust of India reported.

"The firm's licence was under suspension since January after which a detailed inquiry was initiated. Now the licence of the firm has been cancelled by the Uttar Pradesh Drugs Controlling and Licensing Authority. The firm can no longer manufacture the syrup," a government official said on Wednesday.

On March 3, the Noida Police arrested three employees of Marion Biotech from its office in Sector 67 while a lookout notice was issued for two of its directors after an FIR was lodged against all of them, the official said. The drug samples were sent to the government's regional drug testing laboratory in Chandigarh and 22 of them were found to be "not of standard quality" (adulterated and spurious), according to the FIR. Marion Biotech's production director and 2 chemists were arrested, senior police officer Ram Badan Singh said.

The FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 274 (adulteration of drugs), 275 (sale of adulterated drugs), 276 (sale of drug as a different drug or medical preparation) as well as under Section 17 (misbranded drugs) and related violations of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Marion Biotech had come under the scanner in December last year for its cough syrup Dok-1 which is suspected to have led to the death of 18 children who consumed it in Uzbekistan. After that, the production process at the Marion Biotech plant was stopped.

Ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) were found in the preparations "DOK-1 MAX" and "Ambronol" produced by Marion Biotech instead of propylene glycol or together with it, the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan reported. These substances are highly toxic and are used as solvents in industry.

WHO confirmed in January 2023 that Ambronol Cough Syrup and Doc-1 MAX Syrup, produced by the Indian company Marion Biotech, contain DEG and EG toxic substances, and all participants in the drug supply chain called on stakeholders to take immediate coordination measures.