2023-06-01 19:25:59
The Gambia has hired a US law firm to consider legal action after a government-backed investigation found tainted drugs from India were ‘very likely’ to blame for the death of children last year, the justice minister told Archyde.com.
In The Gambia, at least 70 children, most under the age of 5, died of acute kidney failure between June and October.
Local doctors suspected cough syrups imported from India were the likely culprit, as Archyde.com reported earlier this year, and tests by the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the presence. of deadly toxins, sparking a global hunt for tainted drugs.
Gambia’s Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told Archyde.com that legal action was one of the options the government was considering, in the first sign of a possible international dispute over the deaths. Mr Jallow did not say who would be the target of any legal action or the name of the law firm hired to help him.
The drugs linked to the children’s deaths were made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which has denied wrongdoing. Tests carried out by the WHO revealed that Maiden’s cough syrups contain the deadly toxins diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), which are used in car brake fluid. The Indian government said its own drug tests revealed no toxins.
India’s health ministry and Maiden did not respond to requests for comment on The Gambia’s possible legal action. The WHO declined to comment.
Indian authorities have said the WHO has failed to prove a causal link to the deaths in The Gambia, accusing the agency of disparaging its pharmaceutical industry, whose turnover is falling. amounts to 41 billion dollars. However, cough syrups made by another Indian manufacturer have been linked to the deaths of 19 children in Uzbekistan. India has since made drug testing mandatory for cough syrups before they are exported.
CAUSAL REPORT
The Gambia’s justice ministry is considering its options following the completion of a new government-commissioned causality assessment by a panel of international experts, Jallow said.
Archyde.com saw a copy of the report, which was presented to President Adama Barrow in April but has not been made public.
In this report, the experts claim to have analyzed 56 of the cases of acute kidney injury. They found that 22 of them “most likely” died of DEG or EG poisoning after consuming Maiden products.
The panel could not confirm the cause of death in another 30 cases, but said it was “highly suggestive” that they were killed by DEG and EG. He said there was insufficient evidence in four other cases.
Doctors were only able to autopsy two of the patients. The pathology of both was consistent with DEG and EG poisoning, according to the report. Of all the drugs tested after the deaths, only Maiden’s were found to be toxic.
DEG and EG can be used by unscrupulous players as a cheap substitute for propylene glycol, a key ingredient in syrupy drugs, according to several pharmaceutical manufacturing experts.
Archyde.com could not determine whether Indian authorities were aware of the causal relationship.
It is the latest in a months-long investigation into the deaths, which have raised concern among global health officials about lax regulation in India’s pharmaceutical sector and oversight of pharmaceutical raw materials in the whole world. Many countries supplied by India, including The Gambia, do not have the means to test imported drugs.
The WHO said it was continuing to investigate the source of the contaminated cough syrups in The Gambia, Uzbekistan and several other countries, but was frustrated by the lack of information about Maiden’s drugs. One of the main middlemen in the supply chain of these drugs is still not known, Archyde.com found.
Gambian Minister Dawda said the justice ministry’s causation assessment and recommendations would be made public within six months.
The Gambia plans to build a testing center for imported drugs with support from the World Bank, the bank told Archyde.com.
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