Uzbekistan cough syrup deaths: Police arrested three employees of a Noida-based pharmaceutical firm that was involved in the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year, officials said on Friday.
The move came after an FIR was lodged late Thursday night against five officials of Marion Biotech, including two of its directors, over a complaint by a drugs inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), they said.
The central and Uttar Pradesh state drug authorities had checked samples of Marion Biotech's drugs and found 22 of them to be 'not of standard quality' (adulterated and spurious), according to the complainant drug inspector.
"Three persons named in the FIR have been arrested, while the two directors of the company are at large. Those arrested are Tuhin Bhattacharya, Head Operation; Atul Rawat, Manufacturing Chemist; and Mool Singh, Analytical Chemist," Phase 3 police station in-charge Vijay Kumar said.
Marion Biotech, which has its office in Sector 67 here, had come under the scanner in December last year for its cough syrup Dok-1 that is suspected to have led to the death of 18 children who consumed it in Uzbekistan after which the CDSCO launched a probe into the matter.
(With inputs from PTI)
ALSO READ | Cough syrup linked deaths: Manufacturing activities stopped at Noida pharma firm
ALSO READ | WHO calls for action to protect children from contaminated medicines after cough syrups deaths
