Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the dodgy Indian drugs company, behind Gambia child deaths, has been blacklisted in many countries for producing and exporting substandard medicines. 

According to the Indian press, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a repeat offender, has been found wanting in several cases of poor quality medicines which have resulted in deaths in India. 

The company is already blacklisted in many states in India including Bihar, Gujarat and Kerala. 

It was also one of 39 Indian drug companies blacklisted by Vietnam for producing substandard medicines. 

Maiden Pharmaceuticals, established in 1990, has manufacturing units in what looks like slum factories in Kundli and Panipat in Haryana and Solan in Himachal Pradesh. 

It has its corporate office located in Pitampura, Delhi.

The four syrups this dodgy company produced, Promethazine Oral Solution BP, Kofexnalin Baby Cough Syrup, MaKoff Baby Cough Syrup And MaGrip n Cold Syrup, were only exported to Gambia. 

They contained high doses of Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol which are toxic to humans when consumed and can prove fatal. 

Its effects can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state, and acute kidney injury which may lead to death.

The tragedy has made international headlines as the World Health Organisation issued a global health alert on the four India-made cough syrups.

The WHO warned that their use may result in serious injury or death, especially among children.

The WHO’s intervention came after medical authorities in The Gambia detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five in late July.

Sixty-six children have died from acute kidney injuries after taking the cough syrups.