Call to make pharma code mandatory
A parliamentary standing committee has asked the government to make the uniform code of conduct for pharmaceutical marketing mandatory to keep cost of medicines in check. The panel on the ministry of health and family welfare, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Brajesh Pathak, has also advised the pharmaceuticals department to ensure the involvement of the health and family welfare ministry in the implementation.
The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Brajesh Pathak, said it welcomed the department’s move to bring in a uniform code of conduct for pharmaceutical marketing, which the government introduced in July 2011. All the same, its report submitted to Parliament on May 8 said it was “at a loss to understand” as to why the code has been made a voluntary code — and not a statutory one..
“The committee has been given to understand that the voluntary code has generally not been successful in curbing unethical practices and offlabel promotion of drugs,” it said. “...the secretary (pharmaceuticals) was not able to offer any valid reason for not making the uniform code a statutory provision,” the report added.
The panel wanted the department of pharmaceuticals to take decisive action in making the uniform code mandatory so that effective check could be put on huge promotional costs and the resultant impact of the add-on costs on medicine prices.
The report added that the committee “fails to understand, much less appreciate” the reasons behind the department of pharmaceuticals, which is under the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, dealing with this issue exclusively, even as the code of conduct in pharmaceutical marketing affects both doctors and patients.
“Keeping this in view and also the fact that all over the world, such activities are under the National Drug Regulatory authorities, the committee, recommends that the ministry of health and family welfare may also be involved in implementation of code of conduct in pharmaceutical marketing,” it said.
It was last year that the department of pharmaceuticals came up with a voluntary uniform code of conduct for pharmaceutical marketing, following pressure from various related fields on allegedly increasing nexus between doctors and pharma companies to promote the medicine sales in unethical ways. Even before that, almost all the organisations of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country had created a separate code of conduct for the pharmaceutical marketing.
The parliament committee has also asked the department of pharmaceuticals to evolve an effective mechanism to control prices of imported patented drugs being sold in Indian market. There is no mechanism to regulate new patented drugs that are imported in the country and sold at “supernormal profits”, it noted. This, when prices of the same medicines are considerably lower in other countries, it added.
The panel also refused to accept the submission made by the secretary of pharmaceuticals that there is no price control of a patented drug for open market.
The secretary informed the committee that the price regulation of patented imported drugs would be part of the proposed New Pharmaceutical Policy.