Four firms named suspects in acute kidney injury cases
AUTHORITIES
have named three pharmaceutical companies and a chemical distributor as suspects in cases of acute kidney injury and associated fatalities stemming from contaminated children’s medicinal syrup.
Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Penny lukito said PT Yarindo Farmatama and PT Universal Pharmaceutical industries were under investigation and had been named suspects.
She did not elaborate on the criminal charges pressed against the two companies.
Separately, National Police Spokesman insp Gen Dedi Prasetyo said PT Afi Farma and CV Samudra Chemical had also been named as suspects.
“These two corporations are suspected to have conducted the crimes of producing medicines or distributing pharmaceutical raw materials that are not up to standards and/or safety requirements, beneficial requirements and quality,” Dedi said as quoted by Kompas.
Dedi said PT Afi Farma did not conduct proper testing and quality control for the propylene glycol that the company used as a solvent for their products, which was later found to have been contaminated with ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol.
PT Afi Farma allegedly obtained their supply of propylene glycol from CV Samudra Chemical, he added.
BPOM has revoked five pharmaceutical companies’ licences to produce medicinal syrups as well as ordered the withdrawal and destruction of their products from circulation.
The five companies include the three that have been named as suspects, PT Samco Farma and PT Ciubros Farma.
The five companies were discovered to have produced medicines containing dangerous levels of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol from 433 to 702 times over the safety standards.
The two substances were linked as the main factors in the cases of acute kidney injuries in children.
The health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril reported that there had not been any new recorded cases of acute kidney injury in the last two weeks.
As at Nov 15, the ministry recorded the total cases of acute kidney injury at 324.
Syahril said in the indonesian Medical Association instagram live post that as of Friday, there had been 200 deaths from acute kidney injury.