Ethical Marketing of Drugs

• 17 Sep 2022

For Mains: Ethical Marketing of Products, Ethics in Human Actions

Why in News?

Recently, The Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) has accused the makers of the Dolo-650 tablet of spending Rs 1,000 crore to distribute freebies to doctors for prescribing the medicine.

• It is likely to put the stress on making the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) a legally binding code of ethics.

What do we need to know about Freebies in Drug Marketing?

• About:
  • Drug manufacturing companies have been observed practicing ‘Gift-giving’: offering freebies ranging from free dinners and drug samples to promotional merchandise to doctors for their product marketing.
    • In order to promote their products, pharma companies allegedly arrange accommodation in five-star hotels, local sight-seeing, etc. in conferences conducted by doctors.
  • This is a well-oiled racket that sees pharmaceutical (pharma) companies ‘gifting’ doctors to push their respective drugs under the guise of marketing.
• Pharma Company’s Stand:
  • Drug firms would offer branded souvenirs like pen stands, calendars, diaries or sanitizers to doctors.
    • The idea is to ensure top-of-the-mind recall of their brands.
    • The Indian market is price-controlled. Therefore, the differentiator here is the brands and this is common practice.
  • However, these practices do not ensure doctors will prescribe their drugs. It is simply a marketing strategy.
  • Around 95% of the items being gifted have a value less than Rs 500.
    • It does not constitute a bribe. It is done to make the doctor remember a brand among the hundred others with a similar price point.
• All India Drug Action Network’s Stand:
  • Ethical marketing and promotion should be brought within the ambit of the new Drugs, Medical Devices, and Cosmetics Act being formulated.
  • It is observed that often, doctors are made lead investigators in clinical trials, or made part of committees for which they earn a hefty fee.

What is Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)?

• About:
  • This is a set of guidelines published by the Central Government in December 2014 to the pharmaceutical industry for the promotion and marketing of drugs and medical devices.
  • However, these guidelines are voluntary code and not legally binding on companies.
• Significance:
  • This code governs the conduct of pharmaceutical companies in their marketing practices, duly covering the various aspects such as medical representatives, textual and audio-visual promotional materials, samples, gifts, etc.
  • The code establishes relationships with healthcare professionals, wherein the provisions related to travel facilities, hospitality and cash or monetary grants to physicians or their families have been elaborated.
• Key Provisions:
  • According to Clause 7.2 of the UCPMP, “companies or their associations/representatives shall not extend any hospitality like hotel accommodation to healthcare practitioners and their family members under any pretext”.
  • A drug must not be promoted prior to receipt of marketing approval by the competent authority.
    • The promotion of the drug must be consistent with the terms of the marketing approval.
  • No gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind may be offered/supplied to persons qualified to prescribe or supply drugs by a pharmaceutical company.
  • Gifts for the personal benefit of healthcare professionals and family members are also not to be offered or provided.

Way Forward

• If found guilty of unethically promoting drug brands to doctors, companies should face the same penal action as is mentioned in the Indian Penal Code for bribery and other similar unethical practices.
• The government should make it mandatory for periodic disclosures of payments made by companies to doctors and professional bodies, directly or indirectly via other parties, to be accessible to the public. The disclosures should include the amount, purpose of expenditure, and the party paid.
• The UCPMP should be legally binding on the companies. Currently, the codes neither have the power nor the incentive to punish companies
  • It falls upon pharma associations to enforce the voluntary code.

Source: BS