at least 18 children have died after consuming a medicinal syrup manufactured by an indian drugmaker the ministry of health of the republic of uzbekistan has said news agency reuters reportedthe indian drugmaker in question is marion biotech pvt ltd the syrup was imported into uzbekistan by another company named quramax medical llcthe website of the drug making company is currently unavailableregarding reports from uzbekistan concerning contaminated cough syrup made by indian company marion biotech noida uttar pradesh the cdscoindiainf is in regular contact with the national drug regulator of uzbekistan since 27th december union health minister mansukh mandaviya has tweetedin a series of tweets he has said immediately on receipt of the information a joint inspection of marion biotechs noida facility was carried out by up drug control and the cdsco team further action as appropriate would be initiated based on the inspection report the samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises and sent to regional drugs testing laboratory chandigarh for testingregarding reports from uzbekistan concerning contaminated cough syrup made by indian company marion biotech noida uttar pradesh the cdscoindiainf is in regular contact with the national drug regulator of uzbekistan since 27th december 13 dr mansukh mandaviya mansukhmandviya december 29 2022 why you should not panic but be wary of the bf7 variant in india in view of its transmission rate symptom severitywe regret deaths govt is conducting enquiry well take action as per report samples were collected manufacturing of that product has been halted as of now other processes are underway hasan harris marion biotech pharma company legal head on syrup deaths in uzbekistan told animarion biotech is based in noida the companys linkedin page says it was founded in 1999 the social media profile of the company also says that its products are household names in central asian countries central and latin america south east asia and africathe deceased kids were administered the doc1 max syrup as a remedy against an acute respiratory diseasethe kids were given the syrup without a doctors prescription and it is believed that the doses that were recommended by the parents or the pharmacists exceeded the standard dosea total of 21 children were given the syrup out of which 18 have diedthe health ministry says a batch of the syrup contained ethylene glycol a toxic substance ethylene glycol is an industrial compound and is mostly used as an automotive antifreezeits metabolites are toxic and cause profound metabolic acidosis cerebral edema cardiovascular collapse acute renal failure and possibly death the us cdc has said in a reporton this an indian government source said the health ministry was looking into the matter reuters reportedfew months before a similar complaint was put against new delhi based maiden pharmaceuticals ltd after 70 children had died in gambia consuming one of its cough and cold syrupsmeanwhile the uzbek government has withdrawn doc1 max tablets and syrups from all pharmacies