CNN has reached out to Sresan Pharmaceutical, Rednex Pharmaceuticals, and Shape Pharma for comment.

Authorities in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where Sresan Pharmaceuticals is headquartered, said Monday that they suspended the manufacturer’s license and shut down the company after an investigation found that at least 19 children in the central state of Madhya Pradesh died from consuming Coldrif syrup, according to Reuters news agency.

“In the beginning they had a cough and cold, and then renal failure symptoms leading to deaths,” Ajau Pandey, superintendent for the Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh said at a news conference on October 5.

A subsequent investigation identified “higher than permissible limits” of DEG as the reason behind the deaths, Pandey added.

Police in Tamil Nadu arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceuticals last week, while two senior drug inspectors from the city of Kanchipuram also had their licenses revoked and are expected to face disciplinary action over failing to conduct mandatory inspections of sites, the state government said on Monday.

Superintendent Pandey said that a case is also being built against a Tamil Nadu-based doctor who prescribed the medication.

The WHO’s warning comes after the agency identified local clusters of acute illness and child deaths across India in late September. Days later, India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization told the WHO that DEG was found in at least three cough syrups consumed by affected children.

In 2022, Indian health authorities suspended the production of cough syrups from Maiden Pharmaceuticals after several brands of oral liquid medicines were found to have “unacceptable amounts” of chemicals that can damage the brain, lungs, liver and kidneys of those who take them.

Health officials believed the medicines to be linked to the deaths of more than 60 children in the Gambia, and potentially more than 20 children in Indonesia.