Govt Asks Pharma Cos To Stick To Marketing Norms Amid Allegations Of Bribery

New Delhi, 6 Feb 2020:

At a time when allegations of doctors being bribed with foreign trips and gifts have rocked the pharmaceutical industry, the government has asked drug makers and their associations to adhere to current guidelines for marketing drugs.

"Pharma associations are requested to make sure that the pharma companies adhere to the provisions of the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) and no unethical promotion of pharma products is done during such conferences," the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) wrote to industry associations. Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter dated 4 February.

The government’s letter comes amid increasing clamour from various parties for reviewing guidelines for pharmaceutical marketing over allegations that companies, in a bid to make doctors prescribe their medicines more often, are bribing doctors with foreign trips, gifts, gadgets and even women.

The government is currently reviewing the UCPMP and has met pharmaceutical companies, an official said.

“The first meeting to review the guidelines was held a few weeks back, and we will be calling the next meeting soon. In the first meeting, we could make out that none of the associations were strictly complying with the UCPMP, so we have instructed them to do so," an official at the DoP told Mint, on condition of anonymity.

The UCPMP is a voluntary code for ethical marketing of pharmaceutical products, under which pharmaceutical companies and their sales representatives are barred from giving gifts and free trips to doctors. Even if a doctor goes for a conference, they will have to do so at their own cost, as per the code.

“Rather than taking steps to instituting statutory regulation of unethical marketing and promotion, DOP is still requesting companies to abide by a toothless, unenforceable UCPMP. Given that all stakeholders now--including various industry associations, IMA and doctors bodies, civil society and patients groups--are in agreement about bringing in a regulation, we cannot understand why DOP is refusing to do so," Malini Aisola, co-convenor of All India Drug Action Network, told Mint.

Aisola said the DoP should immediately implement a mandatory mechanism for company disclosure of payments towards doctors and professional bodies, including through third parties. These disclosures should be made at intervals and put in public domain, and should include the amount spent, individual or entity to which payment was made and the reason for payment including any services rendered, she said.

A report by a non-governmental organization Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives (SATHI), had in August, alleged that pharmaceutical companies bribe doctors with various gifts, ranging from pens and pen stand to Apple phones costing ₹80,000 and X-ray equipment for the clinic.

“Some doctors who give huge business demand women for entertainment and these demands are met," the report had said.

The report also said that companies and their representatives would push allopathic products even to doctors practising Ayurveda and other alternate medicines.

SATHI’s report sparked considerable outrage, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking pharmaceutical companies in a meeting to not give gifts to doctors.

However, the Indian Medical Association, an organization of over 3 lakh doctors, wrote to PM Modi seeking clarification over his comments which they alleged were based on unverified information. Livemint