Cameroonian officials suspect that cough syrup is responsible for the deaths of twelve children in recent months, and investigations suggest that it may have been manufactured in India. The manufacturing license number on a box of Naturcold medication matches that of Riemann Labs, an Indian-based company. However, Riemann denies producing the tainted medicine and suggests that counterfeiting may be the issue. Two other Indian firms were also suspected of manufacturing contaminated syrups found in Liberia and the Marshall Islands, although no injuries were reported.
Photographs of a box of Naturcold medication in Cameroon reveal a manufacturing license number that corresponds to Riemann Labs Pvt. Ltd., located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The manufacturer’s name is not visible in the photographs, which were provided by a provincial health authority in Cameroon.
In a phone chat, Navin Bhatia, a director at Riemann, confirmed that the medications in the photo “look like ours.” He emphasised that Riemann follows strict quality standards and could not have created tainted medicine, implying that counterfeiting is a widespread problem.
This finding raises concerns about the possibility of a third occurrence involving Indian cough syrups transported abroad that resulted in mass deaths. Last year, drugs manufactured by two other Indian corporations killed nearly 60 children in Gambia and approximately 20 in Uzbekistan. The hazardous substances ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol were discovered in the syrup prescriptions in those patients. Two more Indian enterprises are suspected of producing similarly contaminated syrups discovered in Liberia and the Marshall Islands, though no injuries have been reported in those cases.
According to the Economic Times, authorities from the Madhya Pradesh Food and Drugs Administration indicated that they have assigned a team to investigate the incident and are expecting their results.
Cameroonian Authorities are still investigating the cause of the outbreak and plan to test the Naturcold samples connected to the deaths. The medicine was not authorised for import into Cameroon and is believed to have been smuggled into the country. The authorities currently have no information regarding the origin of the drugs.
According to the visible product label in the photos, the bottle of cough syrup was manufactured in March 2022. It bears the name and logo of Fraken International, a marketing company with a UK address. Attempts to reach individuals at that address have been unsuccessful. Bhatia stated that Riemann last produced Naturcold under a contract for Fraken in early 2022, which was subsequently given to an exporter, who reported exporting it to Cameroon. Riemann is one of numerous Indian firms that produced the product.
Syrups rely heavily on propylene glycol and glycerin as raw components. According to Bhatia, Riemann gets these compounds in sealed containers from reputed producers and subject them to third-party lab tests before employing them. He emphasised the importance of quality and safety to the company.
Bhatia also mentioned that duplicity, where a drug is disguised to resemble another company’s product, is prevalent in some parts of Africa. He expressed doubts about the authenticity of the syrups found in Cameroon, stating, “They look like ours, but we cannot be sure. There is so much duplicity there. Based on the quality of our product, it is doubtful. I am 110 per cent sure that my product is not contaminated—what we sent from here.”