The top seven pharma companies together spent Rs 34,186.95 crores in marketing in eight years making drugs expensive, petitioners told the Supreme Court, citing a study.

“What you are saying is not music to my ears. This is exactly what I had when I had Covid. This is a serious issue” Justice D Y Chandrachud remarked in response to a PIL filed by the Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India (FMSRA), a national trade union, seeking directions to make pharmaceutical companies liable for giving freebies to doctors as incentives to prescribe their drugs.

The supreme court bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice A S Bopanna was informed that Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Ltd, makers of popular anti-fever drug Dolo-650 mg, had invested Rs 1000 freebies to have its medicine prescribed to patients.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the I-T department, in July had accused Micro Labs of indulging in “unethical practices” and distributing freebies to doctors and medical professionals in exchange for promoting products made by the pharmaceutical group.

The claim was made after the Income Tax department on July 6 raided 36 premises of the Micro Labs Ltd. across nine states.

Senior Advocate, Sanjay Parikh appearing on behalf of the Association, informed a Bench that freebies were distributed among doctors to prescribe Dolo-650mg, which Parikh referred to as an “irrational dose combination”.

The FMSRA plea sought the court’s direction to the centre to give the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (Code) statutory basis and make it effective by ensuring monitoring mechanism, transparency, accountability as well as consequences of violations. The Bench granted time to the Union Government to file its counter and also to the petitioner to file its rejoinder.

Advocate, Ms. Ruby Singh Ahuja from Karanjawala & Co, sought the Apex Court’s permission to file an intervention application on behalf of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), an alliance of Pharma companies, to put forth their suggestions with regard to the code. Granting permission for the same, the Bench agreed to be assisted by IPA in the proceedings.

Petitioners are seeking enforcement of the fundamental right to health enshrined in the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India in view of, what they say “the ever-increasing instances of unethical marketing practices by Pharmaceutical Companies in their dealings with healthcare professionals resulting in prescription of excessive and/or irrational drugs and a push for high-cost and/or over-priced brands, which are practices that directly affect citizens’ health, violating their rights under Article 21 of Constitution.”

In India, the petitioners say, pharmaceutical companies spend enormous amounts of money on sales promotion to influence doctors to generate maximum prescriptions thereby increasing drug sales. Quoting a study, the petitioners say, the top seven pharma companies together had spent Rs. 34,186.95 crores in marketing in eight years making drugs expensive.

“Sales promotion expenses constitute 20% of the cost of drugs thereby taking the drugs further away from the reach of the common man,” the petitioners contend.