Even as the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is in the final stage of preparations to make the Uniform Code of Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices (UCPMP) compulsory for pharma companies, the pharmaceutical industry in the country has asked the government to allow the companies to continue with some of its long standing practices like small gifts and free supply of physician samples to the doctor fraternity.

The industry has urged the government that certain long standing industry initiatives like providing small gifts of utility (less than Rs.1,000 of product value) to medical practitioners, CMEs on new drug and novel innovations for three years that better existing therapies, free supply of physician samples that also function as starter doses for poor patients should be allowed to continue. 

Besides, the industry has also urged the government that the MCI guidelines, the CBDT circular of 1st August 2012 and the UCPMP should be suitably aligned to ensure these provisions are recognised and accepted. 

After several years of dilly-dallying on the issue, the DoP in November last year had issued the much awaited UCPMP which should be voluntarily adopted and complied with by the pharma industry for a period of six months with effect from January 1, 2015 and it would be reviewed thereafter on the basis of the inputs received by the department.

After the six months, the DoP had extended the voluntarily implementation of UCPMP by two months from July 1 to August 31, 2015.  Then once again it had extended the voluntarily implementation of UCPMP by four months till December 31, 2015.

Now, the DoP is engaged in discussions with the stakeholders and it is in the final stages to make the UCPMP compulsory for pharma companies in the country.

As per the UCPMP, no gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind may be supplied, offered or promised to persons qualified to prescribe or supply drugs, by a pharmaceutical company or any of its agents i.e. distributors, wholesalers, retailers, etc. Gifts for the personal benefit of healthcare professionals and family members (both immediate and extended) (such as tickets to entertainment events) also are not be offered or provided.

The document further says that companies or their associations/representatives or any person acting on their behalf shall not extend any travel facility inside the country or outside, including rail, air, ship, cruise tickets, paid vacations, etc., to healthcare professionals and their family members for vacation or for attending conference, seminars, workshops, CME programme etc. as a delegate.

As per the new UCPMP, free samples of drugs shall not be supplied to any person who is not qualified to prescribe such product. Where samples of products are distributed by a medical representative, the sample must be handed directly to a person qualified to prescribe such product or to a person authorised to receive the sample on their behalf.