Dolo Tablet Firm Free Gift: The Central Board of Direct Taxes has accused the pharma company, which makes popular Dolo tablets, of disbursing Rs 1,000 crore free of cost to doctors for prescribing 650 doses, an NGO told the Supreme Court on Thursday. mg tablets.
Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing for the petitioner ‘Federation of Medical and Sales Representative Association of India’, told the bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna that the market value of any tablet up to 500mg is under the price. is governed. Control mechanism of the government but the price of the drug above 500mg can be decided by the manufacturer pharma company.
To ensure higher profit margins, the company distributed free gifts to doctors for prescribing Dolo medicine of 650mg capacity, he added.
Parikh said it is an “irrational dose combination” and added that he would like to bring more such facts to the knowledge of the court once the reply is filed by the Centre.
Justice Chandrachud said, “What you are saying is music to my ears. This is exactly the same medicine that I got recently when I got COVID. It is a serious issue and we will look into it.”
The bench asked Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj to file his reply on the petition in ten days and thereafter gave a week’s time to Parikh to file his reply.
It listed the matter for further hearing on September 29, 2022. A lawyer sought the court’s permission to file the intervention on behalf of the pharma companies, which was allowed by the court saying it would like to hear them on the issue as well.
On March 11, the apex court directed the Center to formulate a Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practice to curb unethical practices of pharma companies and ensure an effective monitoring mechanism, transparency, accountability as well as consequences of violations. Agreed to examine the petition seeking to give
The top court had said that it wanted to know what the government has to say on the issue. Parikh had said that this is an important issue in public interest and this court has recently delivered a judgment which said that both the bribe giver or the bribe taker are banned.
He had submitted that the pharmaceutical companies are saying that they are not responsible as the bribe takers are doctors and abroad, they have laws to stop these unethical marketing practices.
Parikh said the government should look into this and the code should be made statutory in nature because “we all know what happened with remdesivir injections and other drugs of those combinations”.
The top court had then asked the petitioner why a representation could not be made to the government, to which Parikh said they had already done so.
He had said that he has been taking up the issue with the government since 2009 and until the government comes out with a code for regulation, this court can frame some guidelines.
The petition, filed through advocate Aparna Bhat, has sought a direction that until an effective law is enacted as prayed, this Court shall seek guidelines to control and regulate unethical marketing practices by pharmaceutical companies. may stipulate or alternatively make the existing Code binding with reasonable and appropriate modifications. /Additions, which are to be complied with by all the authorities/courts under Articles 32, 141, 142 and 144 of the Constitution.
The petition states that the Medical Council of India (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations of 2002 prescribe a code of conduct for doctors in their relationship with the pharmaceutical and allied health sector industry, and provide for gifts and entertainment, travel facilities , prohibit the acceptance of hospitality. Cash or monetary grants by practitioners of pharmaceutical companies.
“This code is enforceable against doctors, however, does not apply to pharmaceutical companies, leading to such extreme situations where doctors’ licenses are revoked for malpractice, which is motivated, encouraged, There is aid and provocation. Pharma companies go without exemptions”, it added.
The petition states that although it is called ‘sales incentive’, in reality, direct or indirect benefits (in the form of gifts and entertainment, sponsored foreign trips, hospitality and other benefits) are given to doctors in return for increase in sales of medicines. go.
It states that promotion of unethical drug may adversely affect the prescription attitude of doctors and cause harm to human health by overuse/over-prescription of drugs, prescription of drugs in excess of required dosage, longer duration than required For prescription of drugs, prescription of one more number of drugs than required and prescription of an irrational combination of drugs.
It said pharmaceutical companies use high-pressure promotional practices to entice physicians to prescribe irrational combination drugs in order to generate massive sales.
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