The Tamil Nadu government on Monday stated that it has revoked the manufacturing licence of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer and shut down the company, reported PTI.

The action came after the deaths of 22 children in the past month linked to the consumption of Coldrif cough syrup manufactured by the company, which is situated in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district.

“Orders have been given to conduct a detailed inspection of other drug manufacturing companies located in Tamil Nadu,” PTI quoted the state government as saying on Monday.

The deaths have been reported from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Several children, who had been suffering from fever and cold, consumed the Coldrif syrup, resulting in vomiting and difficulty urinating.

The first death was recorded on September 2.

On October 2, the Tamil Nadu director of drugs control found that the Coldrif samples were not of standard quality. Three days later, Madhya Pradesh also reported that one sample of Coldrif had 48.6% of diethylene glycol in it.

The permissible limit of diethylene glycol as an impurity is 0.1%. However, drug officials Scroll spoke to said that the chemical is unsafe even in trace amounts and should ideally be completely absent from an ingestible syrup. Its presence is a serious quality compliance issue, the officials said.

On October 9, the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, G Ranganathan, in Chennai.

Two drug inspectors from Tamil Nadu had also been suspended for failing to conduct quality checks on the drugs manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer in the past two years.

Following the deaths, the formulation has been banned in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal and Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted searches at seven locations in Tamil Nadu, including properties linked to employees of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer and Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department officials, The Hindu quoted unidentified officials as saying.

Searches were also being conducted at the home of PU Karthikeyan, former joint director of drugs control (food and drug administration), the officials said.

In July 2024, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption caught Karthikeyan demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a proprietor of a soap factory in exchange for processing a permit application, according to The Hindu.

Also read: How adulterated cough syrup killed Madhya Pradesh’s children

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