The World Health Organization said on Thursday systemic weaknesses in the oversight of the global pharmaceutical supply chain have resulted in medicines formulated with poisonous chemicals claiming lives and compromising the health of patients, mainly children.
In a report, jointly released with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the WHO said there have been more than 300 deaths in Africa, Asia and the Pacific since 2022 linked to syrups containing industrial-grade chemicals such as diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.
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These are often illegally substituted for pharmaceutical-grade ingredients such as propylene glycol, glycerin and sorbitol, used to formulate medicines including cough and paracetamol syrups.
The agencies sounded the alarm on the lack of regulatory oversight for makers and distributors of these ingredients, and their marketing through e-commerce sites and social media.
The report criticized national regulatory agencies for insufficient quality-control testing, excessive reliance on supplier-issued certificates and an overall failure to ensure traceability.
It recommended steps countries could take to mitigate the risk, including making the process of reporting contaminated medicines easier and issuing timely alerts when such ingredients are detected in the supply chain.
