Indonesian court papers reveal chain of events that led to cough syrup deaths

Indonesian court documents have revealed for the first time the chain of events that led to toxic ingredients being used in cough syrup that was among the products blamed for the deaths of more than 200 children in the country last year.
According to the previously unreported 373-page court ruling in a criminal case of officials at Indonesia drugmaker Afi Farma, the seeds of the tragedy were sown in 2021 during a global shortage of pharmaceutical grade propylene gylcol (PG), a key base for syrupy medicines.
The same year, CV Samudera Chemical – a small Indonesian soap ingredient supplier struggling during the COVID pandemic – began selling drums of industrial grade ethylene glycol (EG) repackaged as PG, the ruling said, citing testimony from CV Samudera Chief Executive Endis, who goes by one name.
The company downloaded the logo of major PG supplier Dow Chemical Thailand from the internet and applied it to drums containing EG. It sold them to distributor CV Anugerah Perdana for several months until May 2022.