Maiden Pharmaceuticals of India, whose cough syrups have been connected to the deaths of children in Gambia, denied tampering with test samples or bribing officials to do so on Saturday, as alleged in a complaint under investigation by local health officials.
On Friday, a food and drug administration investigator from Haryana told Reuters that he was almost finished looking into allegations that a state drug regulator had been bought off to change samples that the Indian government had tested. The test being investigated contradicted the World Health Organization’s findings about toxic substances in cough syrups.
“I have never changed the sample,” Maiden founder Naresh Kumar Goyal told Reuters. “There is no evidence or proof against us. I have not given a bribe.”
He claimed that neither he nor any of his company’s representatives had been asked to appear before the state agency’s joint director and investigator, Gagandeep Singh.
Goyal indicated that a rival was the source of the allegation, but he withheld their identity.
Singh opted not to respond to Goyal’s assertion.
The WHO has connected maiden syrups to the deaths of seventy-nine children in the Gambia last year; however, the Indian government claims that testing conducted later at a government laboratory in India revealed the syrups were not dangerous.
On Friday, Singh told Reuters that his office had received an in-depth and detailed allegation alleging that the drug regulator for the state had assisted in the switching of test samples prior to their delivery to the Indian laboratory in exchange for a bribe of 50 million Indian rupees ($600,000).
Manmohan Taneja, the regulator, dismissed a bribery probe as a “fake complaint” and claimed bribes were not paid. Goyal, who closed his factory in October 2022 after the Gambia deaths came to light, is now renovating and has requested inspection for reopening.
“There was no fault in the factory, but since they pointed out some things, we have rectified them,” he said. “We are trying our best; we are pursuing the matter with the concerned officers. That’s all we can do.”
India’s health ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The Indian government is hesitant to reopen three pharmaceutical factories linked to 141 deaths in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon and may not make a decision before the May general election, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
