India firm denies tampering with tests in probe of cough syrup deaths

FILE PHOTO: People stand outside the Maiden Pharmaceuticals plant that was sealed by the Indian government officials in 2022, in Sonipat in the northern state of Haryana, India, February 2023. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Maiden Pharmaceuticals, whose cough syrups have been linked to the deaths of children in Gambia, on Saturday denied it had tampered with test samples or bribed officials to do so, as alleged in a complaint under investigation by local health officials.

An investigator with the state of Haryana's Food and Drug Administration told Reuters on Friday he was close to finishing a probe into whether a state drug regulator was bribed to switch samples, tested by the Indian government, that contradicted the World Health Organization's findings of toxic substances in the cough syrups.