Uzbekistan cough syrup deaths: Noida police arrest three employees of pharma firm Marion Biotech

Noida, March 3: The Noida police on Friday arrested three persons for manufacture and sale of duplicate medicines. They are associated with pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd that manufactured cough syrup, whose use is alleged to have led to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year.

The accused have been identified as Atul Rawat, Tuhin Bhattacharya and Mool Singh. They were arrested from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd. A case has been registered at Gautam Buddha Nagar Phase-3 police station under various sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

Notably, Uzbekistan had alleged that 18 children died after consuming cough syrup manufactured by Noida-based Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had conducted an inspection following reports from Uzbekistan and all manufacturing activities of Marion Biotech at Noida unit were stopped till the completion of inquiry.

The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration Department had suspended the production licence of the company.