A trail of grief, little accountability: The Marion Biotech story after 68 children deaths |
This is the third part of an investigative series examining pharmaceutical companies linked to the deaths of children from contaminated medicines, and the regulatory failures that allowed them to keep operating. It is supported by the Thakur Foundation. The foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the project.
In a photograph on the Facebook page of his family foundation, Sachin Jain looks every part the concerned philanthropist — light green shirt, neat spectacles, a smile on his face, talking to children about personal hygiene. It is a carefully composed image of a man of social purpose, working for underprivileged children.
Scratch the surface and a different picture emerges. Jain owns Marion Biotech Private Limited, a pharmaceutical company whose cough syrups a Tashkent court found responsible for the deaths of 68 children in Uzbekistan between 2022 and 2023. Sixteen more were left with disabilities.
But Jain has never been convicted. He hasn’t even spent a single night in custody in either Uzbekistan or India. In fact, with more than 20 companies spanning pharmaceuticals and real estate under his and his family members’ directorship, Jain’s corporate machinery has continued to operate largely undisturbed.
In this story, we trace the Uzbekistan court’s findings, what Indian officials found, and how Marion Biotech owners have so far not been convicted in either country.
The colds that turned fatal
In early July 2022, in a modest home in Kungrad, in remote Karakalpakstan – an autonomous republic within landlocked Uzbekistan – a two-year-old boy developed a seasonal cold. There was no reason for alarm.
His parents, Tomatov Azamat Aitbaevich and Bakhtiyarova Dilnoza Rashid Qizi, took Aitbaev Akhmad Azamatov to the Kungrad City Medical Association. The doctor prescribed anti-inflammatory medicines. When some of these were unavailable at the Ajiniyaz pharmacy inside the Kungrad Farmers’ Market, the pharmacist suggested an alternative: Dok-1 Max syrup.
Within two days, Akhmad’s condition worsened. On July 6, 2022, his parents rushed him to hospital, where he was admitted to the infectious diseases ward. The child stopped urinating. Doctors diagnosed acute kidney failure. Two days later, he was transferred to the Emergency Medical Hospital in Nukus and placed in intensive care. But on July 25, he slipped into a coma. He died six days later.
Akhmad’s parents did not know then that their son would become the first recorded death in Uzbekistan linked to Dok-1 Max syrup, manufactured by Marion Biotech.
In the months that followed, more children across Uzbekistan fell ill in the same pattern.
On September 29, 2022, two more children died — Norsoatov Muhammadjon Mukhriddin Ugli from the Kashkadarya region and Kuchimov Imronbek Mirusmon Ugli from the Jizzakh region, both two years old. October 2022 saw four more deaths. Mambetiyarova Ayjamal Abdinaimovna, 18 months old, from the Republic of Karakalpakstan died after a prolonged struggle. Qudratova Malika Rizo Kizi, a three-year-old from the Navoi region, died after multiple dialysis sessions. Maksutova Malika Bakhodirovna, another three-year-old from Nukus, died after slipping into a coma lasting 23 days. Ulmasova Dunyo Umedovna from Samarkand died on her third birthday.
All had been given Dok-1 Max syrup.
By December 14, 2022, doctors in Uzbekistan had connected a growing number of unexplained child deaths to the Dok-1 Max syrup. The following day, Azizov Mamatkul Kurbanovich, the chief physician of the Children’s Multidisciplinary Medical Centre in Samarkand, formally alerted state health authorities. On December 22, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health confirmed through laboratory testing that the syrup contained diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), deadly contaminants that are industrial solvents known to cause acute kidney failure.
Ambronol, another syrup manufactured by Marion Biotech, was also implicated. The deaths stretched across the regions of Kashkadarya, Jizzakh, Navoi, Nukus, Andijan, Fergana, Samarkand, Namangan, Tashkent, Bukhara, Khorezm, and Surkhandarya. As per court documents from the Criminal Court of Tashkent City in Uzbekistan, 68 children died in the country between August 2022 and May 2023 after consuming Dok-1 Max and Ambronol syrups. Sixteen other children were left disabled. The Republic of Karakalpakstan recorded the highest toll: 15 deaths.
Indian authorities were informed as soon as contamination was confirmed. By December 27, Uzbekistan banned the drugs. India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) began coordinating with Uzbek regulators. A joint inspection by CDSCO and the Uttar Pradesh Drugs Control Department at Marion Biotech’s Noida plant led to a production halt.
On December 30, a show cause notice was issued to Marion Biotech asking why their licence should not be cancelled. On January 10, 2023, Uttar Pradesh suspended the company’s manufacturing licence. On January 11, the World Health Organisation issued a global Medical Product Alert stating that Dok-1 Max and Ambronol contained “unacceptable amounts” of toxic substances. Samples sent by central and UP regulators to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory (RDTL) in Chandigarh returned alarming results for Dok-1 Max: one sample had 15.87 percent EG, another had 34.28 percent EG, a third had 29.32 percent EG and 4.09 percent DEG, and a fourth had 24.97 percent EG and 8.36 percent DEG.
On March 2, 2023, CDSCO officials filed an FIR at the Noida Phase-3 police station against Marion Biotech directors Sachin Jain and Jaya Jain, and employees Tuhin Bhattacharya, Atul Rawat, and Mool Singh. It was lodged under various sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940. While the three employees were arrested the next day, the Jains left India for the UAE.
Later that month, the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration permanently........