The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has finally spelt out marketing practices for the pharma industry , two years after it voiced concerns about the state of drug marketing in the country. A draft Code of Marketing Practices for the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, released on June 2, bans all kind of gifts to doctors.
Importantly, it clamps down on foreign junkets by restricting industrysponsored continuing medical education (CME) events and drug trial meetings within the country. The code also prevents such meetings from coinciding with sporting, entertainment or other leisure events or activities, and asks companies to maintain a detailed record of expenditure incurred on these events. All industry stakeholders have time until June 30 to review the 16-page document and offer their comments.
The code is similar to guidelines proposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), a statutory body governing medical education and practicing doctors, last year. The MCI guidelines too prohibited doctors from accepting gifts, travel facilities, and hospitality from the pharma industry. However, their notification was delayed partly on account of the controversial arrest of former MCI chairman Ketan Desai for alleged corruption the same year. The MCI guidelines were finally dispatched to the health ministry last month for notification, said Arun Bal, chairman of the council's ethics committee.
"This (code for industry) was only to be expected," said Bal. "These two things should go in parallel."
A section of doctors is open to the idea of curtailing foreign CMEs. "The primary objective of a CME is spreading knowledge and the content has no relationship to geographical location," said Dr Ram Narain , CEO at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. "Whether it is held in Bangalore or Hong Kong, its true value is scientific knowledge, which is dependent on the speaking faculty."
A leading diabetologist in the city, requesting anonymity, said it was "not a big sacrifice so long as it did not deter education and research".
Representatives of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) confirmed they had received the draft code on June 2 and were in the process of reviewing it.
Both have their own guidelines for members. However, this is the first time the DoP has intervened to prescribe a uniform code of behaviour and virtually threatened to make it a law. "This is a voluntary code for the present and its implementation will be reviewed after a period of six months from the date of its coming into force," said a brief preamble to the document. "If it is found that it has not been implemented effectively by the pharma associations/companies, the government would consider making it a statutory code," it said.
Industry associations such as IDMA, OPPI and others came together at the department's behest in 2009 to prepare a uniform code of marketing conduct. But there were some dissenting voices within the industry on its content, and for a while the process was stalled. It is unclear how similar this new code is to the one that the industry ultimately put forward.
Importantly, it clamps down on foreign junkets by restricting industrysponsored continuing medical education (CME) events and drug trial meetings within the country. The code also prevents such meetings from coinciding with sporting, entertainment or other leisure events or activities, and asks companies to maintain a detailed record of expenditure incurred on these events. All industry stakeholders have time until June 30 to review the 16-page document and offer their comments.
The code is similar to guidelines proposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), a statutory body governing medical education and practicing doctors, last year. The MCI guidelines too prohibited doctors from accepting gifts, travel facilities, and hospitality from the pharma industry. However, their notification was delayed partly on account of the controversial arrest of former MCI chairman Ketan Desai for alleged corruption the same year. The MCI guidelines were finally dispatched to the health ministry last month for notification, said Arun Bal, chairman of the council's ethics committee.
"This (code for industry) was only to be expected," said Bal. "These two things should go in parallel."
A section of doctors is open to the idea of curtailing foreign CMEs. "The primary objective of a CME is spreading knowledge and the content has no relationship to geographical location," said Dr Ram Narain , CEO at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. "Whether it is held in Bangalore or Hong Kong, its true value is scientific knowledge, which is dependent on the speaking faculty."
A leading diabetologist in the city, requesting anonymity, said it was "not a big sacrifice so long as it did not deter education and research".
Representatives of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) confirmed they had received the draft code on June 2 and were in the process of reviewing it.
Both have their own guidelines for members. However, this is the first time the DoP has intervened to prescribe a uniform code of behaviour and virtually threatened to make it a law. "This is a voluntary code for the present and its implementation will be reviewed after a period of six months from the date of its coming into force," said a brief preamble to the document. "If it is found that it has not been implemented effectively by the pharma associations/companies, the government would consider making it a statutory code," it said.
Industry associations such as IDMA, OPPI and others came together at the department's behest in 2009 to prepare a uniform code of marketing conduct. But there were some dissenting voices within the industry on its content, and for a while the process was stalled. It is unclear how similar this new code is to the one that the industry ultimately put forward.
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