Disclose the price of branded gifts doled out to doctors, and the gift’s value should not exceed ₹1,000; prohibit continuous medical education (CME) workshops for doctors in foreign locations; money received by registered medical practitioners from pharmaceutical companies to conduct research should be taxable — these are among the recommendations made by a five-member committee headed by Vinod K. Paul to the Union government upon reviewing the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)
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The committee has recommended that while the UCPMP should remain voluntary in nature, it must be modified. A voluntarily followed UCPMP will not be enforceable under law, and pharma companies may not be penalised for violations.
The 100-page report submitted to the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) says the value of “brand reminders”, including books, calendars, diaries, journals (including e-journals, dummy device models of body organs, medical books, and clinical treatment guidelines) should not exceed ₹1,000 per item. “The DoP to finalise the list subsequently,” the recommendations state.
In the case of free drug samples, tax should be deducted at source for the company under the Income Tax (I-T) Act if their value exceeds ₹20,000 per year. “Central Board of Direct Taxes may examine threshold as percentage of sales instead of ₹20,000 in case of free samples,” the panel said.
CME workshops can be conducted by medical colleges, hospitals, professional associations of doctors, national health research institutes, and trusts and associations of pharma companies, but the committee has separately recommended that organising CMEs in foreign locations be prohibited.
Moreover, “The organiser of the CME should explicitly spell out the procedure followed in the selection of speakers and participants,” the report said.
There should be provisions for random, independent audits of CMEs, and pharma companies should share details of such CMEs, including expenses incurred by them on their website, or a common website of the industry association, or the DoP.
Any money given by pharma companies to doctors for permissible research activity will be taxable under the relevant Section of the I-T Act, 1961, the committee has said.
