An Indonesian court handed down a jail sentence on Wednesday to the CEO and three other officials of a company. Their cough syrup has been implicated in the tragic deaths of more than 200 children, leading to a violation of drug safety laws, as confirmed by the company’s legal representative.
Afi Farma, the Indonesian company in question, faced allegations of manufacturing cough syrups containing hazardous substances in excessive amounts. Prosecutors charged the four officials for the conscious decision not to test the ingredients, despite possessing the means and responsibility to do so, according to the charge sheet.
Denying any negligence, the company’s lawyer, Reza Wendra Prayogo, revealed that they were contemplating whether to lodge an appeal.
The sentenced individuals, including CEO Arief Prasetya Harahap, received a two-year imprisonment ruling from the court in the town of Kediri, situated in East Java province, the company’s base.
Prosecutors, originally seeking up to nine years of imprisonment for the accused, asserted that Afi Farma neglected to examine the ingredients provided by its supplier, instead relying on certificates regarding product quality and safety. According to Reza’s statement to Reuters in October, Indonesia’s drug regulator, BPOM, does not mandate stringent testing of ingredients for drugmakers.
This case emerges at a time when global efforts are underway to bolster supervision of drug supply chains, prompted by a series of poisonings associated with contaminated cough syrups that resulted in the tragic deaths of numerous children in various countries, including Gambia and Uzbekistan.
