To ensure ethical marketing practices by pharmaceutical companies, India’s government has charted a code of conduct for the industry, beginning this year. The Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices has been modeled on the Medical Council of India guidelines for doctors and healthcare professionals which prohibits doctors from accepting freebies from pharmaceutical companies or the healthcare industry.
The code bans gifts, hospitality, medical samples, and medical grants, and clarifies the relationship with healthcare professionals. Regarding gifts, it says, “no gifts, pecuniary advantages, or benefits in kind may be supplied, offered or promised to persons qualified to prescribe or supply drugs, by a pharmaceutical company, or any of it agents including retailers, distributors or wholesalers,” reports The Times of India. “In any seminar, conference or meeting organized by a pharmaceutical company for promoting a drug or disseminating information, if a medical practitioner participates as a delegate, it will be on his/her own cost,” it continues.
This code exhibits similarities to the 2010 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of the United States, a healthcare law that was enacted to increase transparency of financial relationships between healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers; ensure patient safety; and flag areas of potential conflicts of interest.
