India's Marion Biotech allegedly used a toxic industrial-grade ingredient - propylene glycol (PG) - in its cough syrup, a media outlet reported on Wednesday.
Marion Biotech had bought propylene glycol from a trader called, Maya Chemtech India. However, Maya Chemtech is only authorised to sell the chemical only, and strictly for "Industrial-Grade" enterprises, not for pharmaceutical-grade materials, according to foreign media.
Industrial-grade PG is a toxic chemical used in liquid detergents, antifreeze, paints or coatings to enhance pesticide effectiveness.
Anonymous sources, working with Maya Chemtech, quoted by the news agency, confirmed that Marion had purchased propylene glycol from them, however, they are unaware why the chemical was bought.
In March, the Indian authorities permanently revoked Marion Biotech's license after finding out that 22 out of the 36 syrup samples tested were "adulterated and spurious".
Earlier, in January, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against Marion Biotech, calling for "immediate and concerted action" to tackle the issue.
Uzbek police arrested four people during the same month, including two executives at a company that imported the Marion drugs.