The pharmaceutical traders in South India although postponed their proposed boycott of Pfizer Ltd., started boycotting products of the Hyderabad- based Biological E Ltd. from this week.

According to trade sources, the company had taken a 'unilateral decision' to enforce trade margins inclusive of excise duty in South India for its four new drugs to be introduced shortly against the wishes of the south traders who prefer trade margins exclusive of excise duty.

The South Zone office bearers of the All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) had served notice to the company with a deadline of 24th August to reverse its decision and to comply with the ongoing arrangement with the company of offering trade margins excluding excise duty. However, the company did not respond to the notice, and hence the association decided to enforce boycott since 29th August in the South Zone of Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Pondicherry.

When the Pharmabiz Hyderabad bureau contacted top brass of Biological E Ltd. in Hyderabad, they declined to comment on the issue, though conceded there were differences between the traders on the margin issue. However, the official claimed negotiations were going on for sometime between the traders and the company to resolve the issue. "We are in touch with the concerned association office bearers and hope to soon solve the issue," said the official, who also declined to reveal the details of the new drugs.

It is to be noted that the south traders are on the verge of boycotting the products of Pfizer, challenging an agreement on trade margins between AICOD national executive with the Pfizer management on margins for the products of the erstwhile Parke-Davis, which was merged with Pfizer. The Southern traders demand the margins should exclude excise duty, unlike the agreement conceding margins inclusive of excise duty. The traders, who had announced to start boycott since 1st September, decided to postpone the boycott against Pfizer in the last minute and decided to wait until the AIOCD national executive committee meeting on 12th September at Jaipur.

Pharmabiz reported on Thursday that the drug traders in Kerala had started boycotting the products of three major Pharmaceutical companies, Alembic, Novartis India and Themis Healthcare since last week for alleged direct supply of drugs to the State Government's retail chain arm State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd, (Supplyco).