The companies were told they would have to compensate the families of hundreds of children who were killed or seriously injured after taking the drug.
An Indonesian court has ordered two companies that sold a toxic cough syrup that killed more than 200 children to pay compensation to every family whose child died or was injured after taking the drug.
The companies Afi Farma and CV Samudera Chemical must pay the families up to 60 million rupees ($3,850). About 120 children survived the poisoning, which resulted in acute kidney disease, some of them with disabilities.
Suspicion about the cough syrups first arose in 2022 after children became seriously ill after taking what they thought were everyday cold medicines. When some of them died, the government ordered syrup-based medicines to be withdrawn from sale and revoked approval for more than 1,000 such products.
About 25 families subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the country’s Food and Drug Administration (BPOM), the Ministry of Health and eight pharmaceutical companies.
In a ruling released late Thursday, the Central Jakarta court found drugmaker Afi Farma and supplier CV Samudera to be at fault, while clearing the Health Ministry and the BPOM of any wrongdoing.
The court ordered the companies to pay the complaining parents compensation of Rs 50 million for deceased children and Rs 60 million for injured children.
The parents had demanded 3.4 billion rupees (about $219,000) for each death and 2.2 billion rupees (about $142,000) for the survivors.
The document published on the court’s website did not contain any reasons for the decision.
Last year, a criminal court found East Java-based Afi Farma guilty of negligence and sentenced officials to prison for failing to check ingredients supplied by its supplier.
Investigations revealed that the syrups contained ethylene glycol (EG), a chemical commonly used in products such as brake fluid and antifreeze. A court document in the case states that the concentration of EG in the syrups was as high as 99 percent. According to international standards, only 0.1 percent EG is safe for consumption.
Afi Farma has repeatedly denied negligence.
In Gambia and Uzbekistan, children also died of kidney disease in 2022 after taking contaminated cough and cold syrups.
