Khushi Bajpai
Published on: 21st August, 2022 at 21:01 IST
The Federation of Medical & Sales Representative Associations of India informed the Supreme Court that the Central Board for Direct Taxes has accused the pharmaceutical company producing DOLO-650 tablets, a fever-reducing medication, of giving doctors free gifts worth INR 1000 crore in exchange for prescribing a dosage of 650 mg.
Sanjay Parikh, a senior attorney representing the association, told the court, which was made up of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, that the market price of DOLO up to 500 mg is regulated, but the dosage above 500 mg can be set at the doctors’ discretion to prescribe a dosage of 650 mg, which Mr. Parikh called a “irrational dose combination.”
The bench was listening to a petition asking for guidance on how to direct the centre to provide the unified code of pharmaceutical marketing practices (the code) a legal foundation and make it effective by establishing a monitoring system, transparency, accountability, and sanctions for infractions. It gave the union administration and the PR actioner until Thursday to submit their counters and rejoinders, respectively.
The Indian Pharmaceuticals Association (IPA), an alliance of pharmaceutical companies, requested permission from the Supreme Court to file an intervention application to present their suggestions regarding the code. The Court granted the request and agreed to allow the IPA to be associated with the current proceedings.