Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the pharma company under fire for children's deaths in Gambia, has a controversial track record

Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which is under the lens of regulators after the WHO issued an alert saying the firm's cough syrups could potentially be linked to the death of children in The Gambia, has a long history of manufacturing substandard drugs.

The Haryana-based company came into focus after more than 60 children in The Gambia died from acute kidney injuries, allegedly caused from taking "contaminated" medicines manufactured by it.

The Gambia immediately launched an urgent door-to-door campaign to remove cough and cold syrups.


“WHO has issued a medical product alert for four contaminated medicines identified in The Gambia that have been potentially linked to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The WHO identified the products as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.

Murky history
The pharma company has been embroiled in controversy for over a decade. In 2011, Bihar government blacklisted this company for supplying sub-standard drugs.

According to the government of India’s Xtended Licensing, Laboratory & Legal Node (XLN) database, Gujarat and Kerala have reported substandard batches of medicine produced by Maiden at least six times in the past nine years.

In 2018, a Indian government drug inspector prosecuted the company for quality violations under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act.

A year before, in 2017, a Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kerala fined the company Rs 1,000 in a prosecution filed by a Drug Inspector in Kerala in 2005.

It was one of 39 companies blacklisted by Vietnam in 2014 for violation of Quality Control Regulation and Drug Regulations.

Commenting on the current crisis, one of Maiden's directors issued a statement saying it was trying to find out from its buyer in Gambia details related to the deaths of children.

"We are trying to find out the situation because it cropped up only today morning," Naresh Kumar Goyal told Reuters. "We are trying to find out with the buyer and all that what has happened exactly. We are not selling anything in India."

Maiden Pharmaceuticals has its global presence mostly in Africa, South America and South East Asia.

As per its website, the company has its corporate office at Pitampura in the National Capital with two manufacturing units in Haryana -- one at Kundli and another at Panipat. It claims to be a WHO-GMP & ISO 9001-2015 certified pharmaceutical company.

The company had started operations on November 22, 1990.