"Pharmaceutical Executives Jailed for Exporting Substandard Drugs to Vietnam"

 

Two executives of an Indian pharmaceutical company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, have been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for exporting substandard drugs to Vietnam a decade ago. The sentencing comes months after the World Health Organization linked four cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals to the deaths of children in Gambia, prompting the Indian government to suspend the company's production in October 2021 for manufacturing violations. The company has denied that its drugs were responsible for the deaths in Gambia, and tests by a government laboratory found no toxins in the products. However, the company has been facing legal difficulties for years over suspected shoddy products.

A court in Haryana's Sonipat, where Maiden Pharmaceuticals has its main production facility, ordered the imprisonment of company founder Naresh Kumar Goel and technical director MK Sharma for exporting heartburn medicine that was "not of standard quality" to Vietnam. The court fined both men INR 100,000 each for exporting the medicine, Ranitidine Tablets BP (Mantek-150), to Vietnam. The written judgment was posted online this week, and the court has given the defendants until March 23 to appeal to a higher court.

Maiden Pharmaceuticals has denied that the Ranitidine Tablets BP were substandard, and the defendants' lawyer argued that because both Mr. Goel and Mr. Sharma were over 60 years old and had been facing court proceedings for seven years, the court should take a "lenient view" on their punishment, according to the judgment. The company declined to comment on the convictions and did not provide contact details for Mr. Sharma.

The investigation into Maiden Pharmaceuticals began in 2014 after the Consulate General of India in Vietnam informed India's Drug Controller General that Vietnam had blacklisted many Indian companies, including Maiden, for quality violations. The company has been under legal scrutiny since then, and the recent verdict marks a significant development in the ongoing legal battles faced by the company.