Noida: Three staff of a city-based pharmaceutical agency Marion Biotech, whose cough syrup is alleged to have led to the demise of 18 kids in Uzbekistan final 12 months, had been arrested on prices of producing and sale of adulterated medication, officers stated. The arrests had been made after an FIR was lodged late Thursday evening towards 5 officers of Marion Biotech, together with two of its administrators, over a grievance by a medicine inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), they stated. Police stated the administrators are at giant and a search is underway to apprehend them. Central and Uttar Pradesh drug authorities had checked samples of Marion Biotech merchandise and located 22 of them to be “not of standard quality” (adulterated and spurious), in keeping with the complainant drug inspector.
(*3*) Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Rajiv Dixit stated.
#WATCH | We have arrested 3 individuals out of 5 from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd…The case is said to the sooner case of poisonous cough syrup despatched overseas because the enquiry was finished after the incident: Ram B Singh, DCP Central Noida pic.twitter.com/vrwTiNLJjk
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023
“Besides the three suspects who have been arrested, there are two more directors of the company for whom searches are underway and they will also be arrested soon. With their act, these people were endangering human life and human health,” Dixit stated.
The officer added {that a} complete authorized investigation within the case will probably be carried out.
Phase 3 police station in-charge Vijay Kumar stated these arrested have been recognized as Tuhin Bhattacharya, head operation; Atul Rawat, manufacturing chemist; and Mool Singh, analytical chemist.
The absconding administrators of the agency who’ve been booked are Jaya Jain and Sachin Jain, Kumar stated.
Uttar Pradesh | Three individuals arrested by Noida Phase-3 Police for manufacturing and sale of duplicate medicines. The accused have been recognized as Atul Rawat, Tuhin Bhattacharya and Mool Singh and had been arrested from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd.
(Pic: Noida Police) pic.twitter.com/x316a9Vc8k
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023
The FIR was registered beneath Indian Penal Code sections 274 (adulteration of medicine), 275 (sale of adulterated medication), 276 (sale of drug as a unique drug or medical preparation) in addition to beneath part 17 (misbranded medication) and associated violations of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Marion Biotech had come beneath the scanner in December final 12 months for its cough syrup Dok-1 that’s suspected to have led to the demise of 18 kids who consumed it in Uzbekistan after which the CDSCO launched a probe into the matter.
The manufacturing licence of the agency was suspended in January after inspections at its web site by the central and the state drug authorities within the wake of the controversy.
On January 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued a ‘medical product alert’, referring to 2 substandard (contaminated) merchandise, recognized in Uzbekistan and reported to it on December 22, 2022.
“The two products are AMBRONOL syrup and DOK-1 Max syrup. The stated manufacturer of both products is MARION BIOTECH PVT. LTD, (Uttar Pradesh, India). To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products,” the WHO had stated then.
“Laboratory analysis of samples of both products, undertaken by national quality control laboratories of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan found both products contained unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and/or ethylene glycol as contaminants,” it had famous.
