NEW DELHI, Aug 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday took serious note of a plea to bring transparency in drug pricing and monitoring mechanism after being informed about the “unethical practices” being indulged in by the pharma companies in giving incentives to medical practitioners for prescribing their products.
The particular reference was to the manufacturer of Dolo-650 tablet which reportedly had distributed over Rs 1,000 crores in freebies to the doctors. A petition being heard in the apex court pointed to the recent accusation against the manufacturer of Dolo-650 tablet of indulging in “unethical practices.”
It pointed out that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had accused the pharma group manufacturing the well-known drug of distributing freebies to the tune of ₹1,000 crore to doctors and medical professionals in order to promote its product. “The 650 mg dosage is irrational,” senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the Federation of Medical & Sales Representatives Association of India, submitted.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna called it a “serious matter” and asked the Centre to file its response within 10 days. “This is not music to ears. Even I was asked to have same medicine when I had Covid. This is a serious matter,” said Justice DY Chandrachud.
Appearing for the Federation, Sanjay Parikh said, “Dolo invested over 1000 crore in freebies to doctors so they would promote the drug.” The CBDT had made the allegation after conducting raids at 36 premises of the Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Limited lying across nine states. Accusing the manufacturer of unethical practices, the CBDT said they have detected tax evasion to the tune of Rs 300 crores.
The petition said such practices not only result in over-use of drugs, it can also jeopardise the health of the patients. Such corruption also pushes high-priced or irrational drugs in the market. The petition said due to the voluntary nature of the existing rules, unethical practices by pharma companies are flourishing and even surfaced during the Covid pandemic.
The petition asked the top court to ensure that the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices be made effective by providing a monitoring mechanism, transparency and accountability. The bench had issued notice to the Centre earlier but no response has been filed. On Thursday appearing for the Centre, additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, said the response was almost ready.
The court gave the government 10 days to reply to the petition after which the Federation would then have a week to file its rejoinder. The matter will be heard again by the top court on September 29.
(Manas Dasgupta)