Since ages, or since the time the Pharmaceutical Industry exists, it is unable to avoid the allegations of being indulged in unethical practices concerning the marketing of medicines around the world. The unethical marketing practices of medicines not only affect the general public but also the regulatory authorities face tough times in controlling such activities. One of the highlighted areas of unethical practices in the field on medicines is the questionable communication channel between pharmaceutical companies as well as medical practitioners. In this blog, we are going to discuss about the ethical marketing of medicines in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India also is\nnot devoid of such practices. The draft pharmaceutical policy of 2017 published\nby the Government of India itself stated that the pharma companies indulge in\nunethical practices in the manner that they lure the medical practitioners to\nrecommend their brands in lieu of expensive trips and other gift hampers. The\ncost of these perquisites enjoyed by the practitioners is finally borne by the\nultimate user of these medicines, i.e., Patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently,\nthere is absence of any laws that regulate the process of branding and\nmarketing medicines by pharma companies in front of medical practitioners. Only\nthe ethical guidelines issued by the Indian Medical Council (Professional\nConduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 play some role in the\nregulation of such unethical practices. The aforesaid regulations also restrict\ndoctors from accepting any kind of perquisites such as travel or gifts from the\npharma companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the\nprimary legislation which regulates the medical industry, i.e., The Drugs and\nCosmetics Act, 1940, does not lay down any regulations on the conduct of the\npharma companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the Consumer Protection Legislation in the country, such as the Consumer Protection Act, 1986<\/strong>[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/sup> (Now Consumer Protection Act 2019) and the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 and Rules, 1955, also deal with misleading advertisement of the medicines but do not pay any attention towards the pharma company-medical practitioner relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is pertinent to notice that the government has turned a blind eye to this problem. In lieu of the increasing complaints of unethical marketing practices followed by pharma companies, the Department of Pharmaceuticals launched the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) in the year 2011 (Modified in 2014). The basic intent behind the UCPMP code was to control the pharma industry in its interaction with HCPs. Since UCPNP was voluntary in nature, hence it led to its non-binding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the\npositive side, there are a number of pharma companies that are proudly ethical\nin their communications with medical practitioners. Many pharma companies have\nalso put in place exhaustive internal guidelines and robust internal mechanisms\nguiding the interactions of their medical representatives\/marketing personnel\nwith medical practitioners. Further, a good number of medical practitioners also\nvalue such ethical practices. In those cases, the medical practitioner\nprescribes medicines from only those pharma companies whose quality is\ndependable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indian\ngovernment is also taking such malpractices in the medical field very seriously\nand is thinking of giving legal status to UCPMP, thereby make it binding. The guidelines\nillustrated in UCPMP are the most similar to the US Physicians Payment Sunshine\nAct, which is active in letter as well as spirit. It is interesting to notice\nthat the enforcement of the Sunshine Act by US Authorities has resulted in the\ncollection of fines of hundreds of millions of dollars from some pharma\ncompanies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversion of UCPMP into an abiding law would certainly help to control the rampant quid-pro-quo arrangements that are very much prominent today between pharma companies and medical practitioners. Moreover, the pharma companies which are currently engaged in unethical practices will be bound to re-evaluate their sales and marketing strategies and comply with the aforesaid regulations, or they will have to face legal consequences, thereby hampering their brand and business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the\nmeanwhile, the pharma companies leading the Indian market shall lead by their\nexample for all other companies and must take voluntary responsibility to\nfollow the guidelines of UCPMP in letter as well as spirit. All pharma industry\nassociations shall also adopt the UCPMP and direct their members to do so, as\nwell as comply with the provisions of UCPMP at all costs. Such initiatives will\ngo a long way in developing a sense of confidence amongst the Government and\npatient groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n