The Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives' Associations of India (FMRAI) has asked the government to act tough against the pharmaceutical companies in the country, who, the association said, are colluding with the government machinery to maintain their reckless profit earning. The association also urged the government to impose strict price control on medicines particularly the medicines under the 'list of essential medicines'.

Surprising as it may sound as the association is considered very much part and parcel of the pharma industry, the FMRAI has circulated a hard-worded note among the Members of Parliament (MPs) detailing about the ground realities existing in the pharma industry in the country. Apart from the price control issue, the association has also raked up several issues including the profit margins, price difference among brands, hoax of price reduction, violation of DPCO, etc, which may well go against the industry.

Asking for the urgent attention on the issue, the FMRAI said that the pharmaceutical industry has taken advantage of the failure of the government to regulate the anarchic behaviour of the industry. "In many cases, the industry had colluded with the government machinery to maintain their reckless profit earning", it said.

For improving the situation, the association has suggested a 7-point agenda to be taken up by the MPs so that access to essential medicines does not become further impossible for the people of our country. The agenda included, formation of one single company consisting of all central government public sector medicine companies, strictly control the medicine prices particularly the medicines under the 'list of essential medicines' and to abolish excise duty on the essential medicines.

Other measures included appropriate legislation to stop production and sales of fake medicines, establish machinery for control of quality and manufacturing, ban and weed out all irrational medicines, regulate pharmaceutical promotion by the industry and to defend Patents Amend Act and to utilise compulsory licensing for production of expensive patented medicines which are needed by people.