Petition in SC demands law preventing unethical marketing practices by pharma companies
Special Correspondent
NewsBits.in
NEW DELHI: Public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court demanding that there should be a law preventing pharmaceutical companies from indulging in unethical marketing practices.
The petitioners have argued that if there is a law against the bribe takers, i.e. the doctors taking freebies, foreign trips and gifts for promoting costly branded drugs as well as irrational drugs and their combinations, there should be a law against the bribe givers also, i.e. the pharma companies.
The petition has been filed by the Federation of Medical & Sales Representatives of India (FMSRAI) and Amitava Guha in the Supreme Court of India came up for hearing on 1st May 25 before a bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta.
The petitioners have said that the existing voluntary Uniform Code has proved to be totally ineffective. The petition pointed out that nearly 20% costs of the drugs includes the cost of such unethical promotions.
Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, for the petitioners, emphasized during the hearing that there is a need for a law against the pharmaceutical companies to curb unethical marketing practices.
The judges observed that if there is a statutory mandate for doctors to prescribe medicines in generic names, they cannot prescribe costly branded drugs. They mentioned a Rajasthan case where such a direction was given by the High Court to prescribe only medicines in generic names.
The judges observed that if a direction to prescribe only the medicines in generic names is given for the entire country, many of the complaints regarding unethical marketing practices will be solved.
The Government of India had constituted a high-powered committee on these aspects, but no concrete steps have been taken in this matter.
Petitioners are seeking a further direction that till the Uniform Code on Pharmaceutical Marketing is made legally binding, the court should frame guidelines to regulate unethical marketing practices by the Pharma companies.
