TASHKENT – Uzbekistan has arrested 4 individuals in an investigation into the deaths of 19 youngsters who consumed cough syrup made by Indian drug maker Marion Biotech, the Uzbek state safety service mentioned on Friday.

Two of the detained had been senior workers of the Scientific Center for Standardization of Medicines, who circumvented the correct testing procedures for the Doc-1 Max cough syrup, it mentioned.

Two others had been executives of the Quramax Medikal firm that imported the Marion Biotech medicine.

Marion Biotech mentioned final month, shortly after the sequence of deaths, that it had halted manufacturing of the syrup.

Uzbekistan’s well being ministry had mentioned the syrup contained a poisonous substance, ethylene glycol, and was administered in doses greater than the usual dose for kids, both by their mother and father, who mistook it for an anti-cold treatment, or on the recommendation of pharmacists.

The Uzbekistan case follows deaths of a minimum of 70 youngsters in Gambia {that a} parliamentary committee had linked to cough and chilly syrups manufactured by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals. The firm denied any wrongdoing and Indian authorities inspectors discovered no contamination in take a look at samples.

(Reporting by Mukhammad sharif Mamatkulov Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Kim Coghill)