Retail chemists have started a new practice of demanding gifts from pharmaceutical companies for passing on market information about the competing companies, it is learnt.

Sourcing information about doctors' prescription patterns, sales trend of a particular product and its competiting products in the market are some valuable inputs for framing marketing strategies of the pharmaceutical companies.

Collection of such information from the chemists all over the country is turning out to be a must routine for pharma companies today. As a latest trend in the market, the chemists in various places have started demanding gifts to provide the information, which is an additional burden for the companies, industry sources here said.

"As the authority of market information that we seeks, the chemists have commenced demanding various types of gifts. It is absolutely a 'give and take' policy they are putting forward now," said a marketing source. The companies ranging from large players including Ranbaxy to the small manufacturer are forced to offer gifts to the chemist's shops for collecting market surveillance. The gifts are ranging from prescription pad to travel bags, according to the size of information they provides, the source said.

"They have started demanding valuable gifts of late, for the information we seek about market trends. The trend is more evident in some states like Kerala, where gifts are mandatory to avail information from a section of chemists shops," a pharmaceutical manufacturer from Gujarat told Pharmabiz. It is to be noted that the major Pharma associations have recently accelerated their move to stop the trend of providing gifts to doctors as the part of product promotion.

However, the trend, though prevalent in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala, does not have a hold in states Tamil Nadu, according to the managing director of a pharmaceutical company in Chennai.

"We haven't received any such complaint from the industry till date. Anyway, if such a trend is there, we should stop it immediately. As you know, we have initiated a joint venture with a Chennai based company to provide such information," J S Shinde, general secretary, All India Organisation for Chemists and Druggists told Pharmabiz. The organisation has recently launched a joint venture company, AIOCD-Pharma AWACS to come up with a weekly market surveillance report with information from selected chemists shop.