Indian regulators have banned Pfizer’s Corex cough syrup saying that it was likely to pose a risk to humans, according to Reuters
The Indian government has recently banned 334 drug combinations that entered the Indian market through state-based regulators but that a government panel of experts found them to have “no therapeutic justification.”
Pfizer’s Corex is a combination of chlopheniramine maleate and codeine syrup and one of the drug combinations that the government banned.
The decision on Corex is likely to hit Pfizer's revenue and profit. The brand brought in sales of about 1.76 billion rupees ($26.30 million) to Pfizer in the nine months ended December 2015, the company said in a statement.
Pfizer said it believed Corex had a "well-established efficacy and safety profile in India for more than 30 years and was exploring all possible options at its disposal."
Another cough syrup which was effected by the new ban is Abbott’s codeine-based Phensedyl, which according to Reuters accounts for make up more than 3 percent of Abbott's $1 billion India revenue.