The cough syrup at the centre of a widening drug safety scandal in India traces back to a little-known pharmaceutical entity with murky corporate roots and unclear ownership. The Kancheepuram-based Sresan Pharmaceutical, whose Coldrif cough syrup has been named in FIR copy related to deaths of 14 children in Madhya Pradesh, appears to have begun life as a private limited company in 1990.
The Madhya Pradesh government has said that samples of Coldrif contained 48.6% diethylene glycol (DEG), a toxic industrial solvent that can cause kidney failure. The state police have since filed an FIR against Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, while a broader probe into its licensing and manufacturing operations is underway.
About the company
As per the FIR and the tag outside the factory site, the company’s name is Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, which does not exist on any government records. However, the company that exists is Sresan Pharmaceuticals, which, as per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, ceased to exist in 2009.
The private limited company named Sresan Pharmaceuticals, incorporated in 1990, has four directors listed as Ranganathan Govindarajan, Ranganathan Rani, Govindan Bala Subramanian, and Ranganathan Govindan, as per Zauba Corp. The company was later struck off the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) registry. According to the website, the last Balance Sheet filed by the company dates back to 2009. Ranganathan Govindrajan is the last-standing director, appointed in 2009, as per the records.
As per the entity’s listing on Indiamart, the company claims to be “a trader of cough syrups, protein powders, pharmaceutical syrups and herbal child growth syrups.” Despite differences in the addresses listed across its Indiamart page, product packaging, and MCA filings, all three are located within the same neighbourhood in Chennai, NDTV Profit reported.
According to a ground report by NDTV, the industrial-grade chemicals used in Coldriff were bought from Sunrise Biotech and Pandia Chemicals, located in Chennai, via cash and Google Pay. The report further mentioned how the company sourced propylene glycol, used in the syrup, from local chemical traders and paint industry dealers.
Regulatory spotlight
The company’s manufacturing facility, located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, is currently under inspection by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and state drug regulators to trace the distribution of the contaminated batch. The Tamil Nadu government has also issued a show-cause notice to Sresan Pharmaceutical Maker, asking why its drug licence should not be cancelled, following a “stop production” order on October 3.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said a memo had been sent seeking an explanation from the firm, while confirming that the state’s own testing of Coldrif samples also found contamination.
In addition to Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have banned the sale and distribution of Coldrif. Rajasthan has gone a step further, suspending 19 other products of the company as a precautionary measure. The Union Health Ministry has confirmed the presence of DEG in Coldrif and advised doctors not to prescribe cough syrups to children below two years.