Centre Sets Up Committee to Review Pharma Marketing Practices

The Department of Pharmaceuticals, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has set up a committee to examine the regulatory framework that governs pharmaceutical marketing practices in the country. The panel has been asked to recommend ways of strengthening oversight, monitoring and enforcement so that unethical practices in the pharmaceutical sector can be curbed.

Who is on the committee

Dr. M. Srinivas, Member of NITI Aayog, has been named the Chairperson. The two members are Smt. Preeti Sudan, a former Union Health Secretary, and Dr. Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta. The committee must complete the consultative process it has been asked to carry out and then submit its recommendations within two months from the date of its first meeting.

The code it will study

The Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) was brought in during 2015 as a voluntary, industry-led self-regulatory mechanism. Its purpose was to promote ethical marketing of medicines and to regulate the dealings between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals. The Department later issued UCPMP 2024, which replaced the 2015 version and strengthened the framework for putting the code into effect. The 2024 code is the one currently in operation, and the new committee's review begins from there.

Terms of Reference

• To take a holistic and comprehensive look at every issue connected with unethical pharmaceutical marketing practices
• To test how well the existing arrangements for monitoring, oversight and enforcement actually work, and to identify what is needed for greater transparency, accountability and effective compliance
• To examine what is required to strengthen the present monitoring and regulatory framework, and to suggest regulatory, statutory or other measures along with the legal framework needed to implement them
• To hold discussions with stakeholders, and with technical, professional and domain experts, institutions or bodies, and to weigh their submissions objectively before making recommendations
• To deliberate upon and recommend on any other relevant issue connected with curbing unethical marketing in the sector

For an aspirant, the point to carry away is the chain of custody over pharmaceutical marketing: a voluntary code of 2015, a stronger code in 2024 that superseded it, and now an expert committee asked whether the monitoring and enforcement machinery around that code is strong enough, with a deadline of two months from its first sitting.