Nipah drug controversy: Minister suspects clinical trial drug administered to patients, health experts reject allegations

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Health Minister K Muraleedharan stepped forward with more responses on the controversy over the alleged administration of expired medicines to Nipah patients at Kozhikode Medical College. The minister while talking to the media said there were suspicions that the medicine administered to patients might have been a clinical trial drug. He added that the investigation was being conducted based on the information provided by the medical college superintendent.

Although medicines are required to register the manufacturing and expiry dates, the medicine supplied reportedly did not have a manufacturing date. The minister also alleged that more dealings with foreign pharmaceutical companies had taken place during the tenure of the previous government. The investigation would also examine who acted as intermediaries in these transactions, he clarified.

The health minister first raised suspicions in the assembly that Nipah patients might have been given expired medicines. The medicines were administered between 2023 and 2025, during the previous government's tenure. Medicines purchased in June 2021 had expired in May 2023. The suspicion concerns Remdesivir, which was procured through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation. The medicine was reportedly also used to treat COVID-19 patients.

The health minister has directed the director of health services and the director of medical education to collect details of all patients who received the medicine. Of the six Nipah patients reported in 2023, two died. Both patients reported in 2024 also died, while two of the three cases reported in 2025 were fatal. An investigation will examine whether the deaths were caused by the use of expired medicines and whether the other patients experienced any adverse effects.

Meantime, health experts have rejected the allegation that expired medicines were administered to Nipah patients. Dr Anoop Kumar A S told the media that Remdesivir had not been administered to the six patients who died of Nipah between 2023 and 2025. All seven patients who received the medicine recovered. The doctor also argued that there was no basis for claiming that the use of expired medicine had led to the patient's death.