Hyderabad: The Department of Pharmaceuticals is drafting a Uniform Code for Pharma Marketing Practices (UCPMP) to curb the practice of companies offering gifts and benefits to doctors, agents, distributors, wholesalers and retailers who prescribe and promote their drugs. The code already exists, but its adoption is voluntary at present. There are no penal provisions associated with it, as a result of which wrong doers are not deterred.
The department of pharmaceuticals wants to make adoption and implementation of the code mandatory. It plans to attach penal provisions to ensure that unethical practices are curtailed.
According to sources in the pharma industry, the draft states that no gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits may be offered or promised to persons qualified to prescribe or supply drugs. Gifts cannot be offered to healthcare professionals, their family members, or their extended family.
The department is contemplating the addition of a provision for the arrest of the Chief Executive Officer of a drug company found violating the code. According to sources, the draft is being vetted by the law ministry at present, to ensure that the penal provisions stand up to legal scrutiny.
A senior member of the pharmaceutical industry says, “At present, the big companies are complying with the voluntary law which is already in place, but they are very few in number. There are many small and medium companies in the market, and they need to follow the code. The law must be the same for all.”
Another member of the pharmaceutical industry says, “The code must ensure compliance, but it must not create a fear psychosis. At present, the market has a range of medicinal products and their utility must not be undermined. These practices have to stop, but the restrictions have to be implemented in a systemic manner so that everyone follows them.”
