The Supreme Court on Tuesday pressed the Centre to ensure that procedures under the Uniform Code for Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices (UCPMP) are robust enough for ordinary consumers to easily report unethical conduct by drug companies and receive effective remedies.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the system must be designed so that “every person or the consumer who is cheated” has clear recourse against erring pharmaceutical firms. The court was hearing a petition alleging widespread unethical marketing practices in the pharmaceutical sector and seeking stronger legal safeguards.
The judges questioned why the UCPMP, introduced earlier this year, does not already contain a user-friendly complaint mechanism. “If you have brought out a code, why should that code not have appropriate measures whereby consumers have a convenient mechanism for lodging complaints and ensuring that action is taken?” the bench asked.
Appearing for the Union government, Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj said several policies regulate drug pricing and marketing, and cited the 2024 UCPMP, which bars companies from offering gifts, hospitality, or travel benefits to healthcare professionals or their families. He added that an independent portal for complaints could be created, and also referred to the enforcement regime under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
But senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the petitioners, pointed out that the UCPMP remains a voluntary code. This, he argued, creates a gap in enforcement because doctors are governed by binding ethical rules under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, while pharmaceutical manufacturers face no equivalent statutory discipline.
The petition, filed by the Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India and others, claims that pharma companies routinely offer gifts, foreign trips, hospitality and other inducements to doctors in exchange for increased prescriptions, even though such benefits are termed “sales promotion”. It adds that doctors risk losing their licences for violations, whereas drug companies “go scot-free” despite encouraging the same conduct.
The bench asked the Centre to clarify whether the government is considering a statutory framework to regulate marketing practices in the sector. It also requested Parikh to submit suggestions, which the court said the Centre must examine.
Noting that implementation has been the persistent challenge, the court posted the case for further hearing on December 16.
The Supreme Court had first issued notice on the petition in March 2022.
