The World Health Organization has issued an alert over a cough syrup made in India after the death of 66 children in The Gambia.
Indian authorities are investigating after the WHO said the drug could cause life-threatening kidney damage.
Ministry of Health staff at India told Reuters that an “urgent investigation into the matter has already been opened.”
They added that “all required steps” would be taken in the investigation but they were still awaiting a report establishing “a causal link to the death with the medical products in question”.
On Wednesday, the WHO revealed this lab analysis of cough syrup made by New Delhi-based company Maiden Pharmaceuticals.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an investigation was underway into the deaths of children from acute kidney injury in the West African country.
He confirmed that the products they were looking at were Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
WHO tests found that all the syrups contained “unacceptable amounts” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, both of which can cause life-threatening kidney failure.
So far, the products have only been identified as being exported to The Gambia but could have been distributed through informal channels in other markets.
The UN agency added: “All batches of these products should be considered unsafe until they can be analyzed by the relevant national regulatory authorities.”
Read more from Sky News:
At least 16 migrants die and 30 others are missing after two boats sink off the Greek islands
Ukraine claims ‘terrible torture chamber’ found in town recently liberated from Russian forces
Shot at the ‘pharmacy of the world’
The death of 66 children is a serious blow to India’s efforts to portray itself as the “pharmacy of the world”.
India manufactures a third of the world’s medicines and supplies most of the medicines purchased by African countries.
Maiden says on its website that it has two manufacturing plants, in Kundli and Panipat, both near New Delhi in the state of Haryana, and has recently set up another.
It has an annual production capacity of 2.2 million bottles of syrup, 600 million capsules, 18 million injections, 300,000 tubes of ointment and 1.2 billion tablets, and exports to countries in Asia, from Africa and Latin America.
Sky News has emailed Maiden Pharmaceuticals for comment.
