The Center for Safety of Pharmaceutical Products under the Ministry of Health (UzPharmNazorat) launched a probe into the pharmaceutical company Samo, which produces the drug Antistrumin (potassium iodide), the press service of the Center said.
The enterprise is checked for compliance with regulations on medicines and pharmaceutical activities, including state standards of good manufacturing and distribution practices, good storage practices, requirements in the field of technical regulation in the production, preparation, storage and wholesale of medicines. While, also compliance with mandatory licensing requirements and conditions is checked.
The Center is also analyzing the safety indicators of Antistrumin within the framework of the general technical regulations on the safety of medicines.
UzPharmNazorat is asking “not to disseminate misleading reports” until the reasons for the massive occurrence of side effects allegedly associated with this drug are determined.
After it became known that at least 71 children were hospitalized in the Namangan province (a total of 450 children were reported), the Ministry of Health introduced a ban on the use of Antistrumin No. 100 tablets from September 22 until the probe was completed. The governor of Andijan province reported the hospitalization of 12 children who took Antistrumin.
However, soon Deputy Minister of Health Elmira Basitkhanova stated that “suspicions of food or medicine poisoning have not yet been confirmed.” She noted that children may have ARVI.
Dozens of children in Tashkent were admitted to the toxicology unit of the emergency medical care center with signs of poisoning, fever, and stomach upset. Parents reported that their children became ill after taking iodine. Doctors say there is no connection with the drug. Gazeta.uz published a report on the situation.
A criminal case was opened into the hospitalization of hundreds of children, the Prosecutor General's Office previously reported.
