Pharmexcil suspends membership of Marion Biotech, says it brought a bad reputation to our pharma industry

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], December 30 : Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), on Friday, suspended the membership of the Noida-based Marion Biotech.
"The suspension of membership of Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd came into effect from December 29. The Pharmexcil has taken the decision after the company failed to reply to the council on a report on Uzbekistan's claim over the deaths of 18 children due to cough syrups of Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd," said Pharmexcil director general Udaya Bhaskar while talking to ANI.
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), is part of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The Pharmexcil wrote a letter to Chairman and Managing Director of Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd Sachin Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd regarding the deaths of children in Samarkand, Uzbekistan after consuming Doc-1 Max supplied by Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. But the company failed to provide information for two days.
With the suspension, the company's exports will become ineligible for incentives under the Market Access Initiate Scheme.
A letter written by the council also mentioned that company has brought a 'bad reputation' to the Indian pharma industry and is also likely to have an impact on the Trust of International agencies in Indian pharma exports.
ANI accessed two letters written by the council to Sachin Jain, Chairman and MD of the company.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it is in touch with the Uzbek authorities about the reported deaths of 18 children after consuming contaminated cough syrup made by Noida-based Marion Biotech.
"We are in touch with the Uzbek authorities and are still in the process of gathering information and validating these reports," WHO said in response to a question from ANI.
Noida-based pharma Marion Biotech has come under a cloud as reports of children dying after consuming cough syrup made here came in from Uzbekistan. The matter is under investigation.
The company is waiting for the reports as it needs to be found out why cases came from a single hospital in Uzbekistan.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya today said that all manufacturing activities of the Noida-based pharma company have been stopped in view of the reports of contamination in cough syrup Dok1 Max.
"Following inspection by @CDSCO_INDIA_INF [Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation] team in view of reports of contamination in cough syrup Dok1 Max, all manufacturing activities of Marion Biotech at NOIDA unit have been stopped yesterday night, while further investigation is ongoing," Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.