CHENNAI: The Department of Drugs Control Administration (DDCA) has banned the sale of Coldrif cough syrup in Tamil Nadu and frozen all stock at the manufacturer’s Kancheepuram plant, following media reports linking it to the deaths of at least eight children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The move followed a communication from the Controller, Food and Drug Administration, Madhya Pradesh (MP), regarding the death of children in the state’s Chhindwara district. The syrup is suspected to be the cause of the death of six children in the last three weeks.
S Gurubharathi, Deputy Director of Drugs Control cum Controlling and Licensing Authority, told the TNIE that all drug inspectors across the state have been asked to prevent the sale of Coldrif by pharmacies and freeze the stock wherever available until further orders.
He said five samples — one from the same batch of Coldrif suspected to have caused the death and four other drugs of different combinations produced by the same manufacturer — were lifted from their unit and sent for testing. The syrup is manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals at its unit in Sunguvarchathram.
Gurubharathi said since the syrup was also being supplied to Puducherry, Odisha, besides various parts of Tamil Nadu, a communication has been sent to those states too to prevent the sale of the drug.
When asked about the other brand of syrup, he said the department has neither found the drug to be available anywhere in Tamil Nadu nor is it manufactured here. He also clarified that neither of the brands of syrup was being procured by the state government for supplying to government-run facilities.
In a communication to his Tamil Nadu counterpart, Dinesh Kumar Maurya, Drug Controller of Madhya Pradesh, said the investigation teams had collected samples of the drug — Phenylephrine Hel, Chlorpheniramine Malcate Syrup (Coldrif) — batch number SR-13 with May 2025 as manufacturing date and April 2027 as expiry date. The drug was manufactured by M/s Sresan Pharma, Sunguvarchatram, Kancheepuram district.
“As the manufacturer is located under your area of jurisdiction, it is requested to take necessary action in the matter and please provide details of above mentioned drug supplied and action taken in the matter,” it said.
The Union Health Ministry has launched a multi-agency investigation after reports suggested that the syrups may contain traces of diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical known to cause severe kidney damage. Samples collected from the affected children have been sent to the Virology Institute in Pune for testing.