Uzbekistan cough syrup deaths: Noida police arrest 3 employees of Marion Biotech

New Delhi: Three employees of Noida-based pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech, whose cough syrup is linked to the deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year, were arrested on Friday.

The Noida Police said the arrests were made after an FIR was lodged against five officials, including two directors of Marion Biotech. The FIR was lodged over a complaint by a drugs inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), the officials said.

“We have arrested 3 people out of 5 from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. The case is related to the earlier case of toxic cough syrup sent abroad as the enquiry was done after the incident,” said Ram B Singh, DCP Central Noida.

The three accused have been identified as Atul Rawat, Tuhin Bhattacharya and Mool Singh and were arrested from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd.

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Before the arrests were made, the central and the Uttar Pradesh state drug authorities had checked samples of Marion Biotech’s drugs. Upon checking, it was found that 22 of the samples tested were “not of standard quality” (adulterated and spurious), according to the complainant drug inspector.

Marion Biotech, which has its office in Sector 67 in Noida, had come under the scanner in December last year for its cough syrup Dok-1 that was suspected to have led to the deaths of 18 children who consumed it in Uzbekistan after which the CDSCO launched an investigation into the matter.

The Uzbekistan government said in December the children died after consuming Marion’s cough syrups. India suspended Marion Biotech’s production soon after the incident.

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