Department of Pharmaceuticals Forms Committee to Review Pharma Marketing
Practices and Strengthen Regulatory Oversight
Ø Committee to Examine UCPMP Framework
and Recommend Measures for Strengthening Oversight Mechanisms;
Ø To submit report within 2 months from
the date of its first meeting
·
Committee constituted: The Department of
Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has established a
committee to review pharmaceutical marketing practices and recommend measures
to curb unethical activities.
·
Chairperson and members: Dr. M. Srinivas, Member, NITI
Aayog, will chair the committee. Smt. Preeti Sudan, former Union Health
Secretary, and Dr. Naresh Trehan, CMD of Medanta, are its members.
·
Report deadline: The committee must submit its
recommendations within two months of its first meeting.
·
UCPMP review: The committee will examine the existing
Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), introduced in 2015
as a voluntary, industry-led self-regulatory mechanism and subsequently
strengthened through the UCPMP 2024 framework.
·
Monitoring and enforcement: It will assess the
effectiveness of existing oversight mechanisms and recommend measures to
improve transparency, accountability and compliance.
·
Legal and regulatory reforms: The committee will
consider whether additional regulatory, statutory or legal measures are
required to strengthen enforcement against unethical pharmaceutical marketing.
·
Stakeholder consultation: Industry representatives,
technical experts, healthcare professionals and other relevant stakeholders
will be consulted before final recommendations are submitted.
·
Objective: The initiative aims to strengthen ethical
pharmaceutical marketing, improve regulatory supervision and curb unethical
interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals.
[ABS News Service/24.10.2026]
The Department of Pharmaceuticals,
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has constituted a Committee to
comprehensively examine the existing regulatory framework governing
pharmaceutical marketing practices and recommend measures to strengthen
oversight, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to curb unethical practices in
the pharmaceutical sector.
Dr. M. Srinivas, Member, NITI Aayog has been named as the Chairperson of
the committee with Smt. Preeti Sudan, Former Union Health Secretary, and
Dr. Naresh Trehan, CMD, Medanta, as its members. The Committee will have
to submit its recommendations within a period of two months from the date of
its first meeting, after undertaking the requisite consultative process.
The Uniform Code for
Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) was introduced in 2015 as
a voluntary, industry-led self-regulatory mechanism to promote ethical
pharmaceutical marketing and regulate interactions between pharmaceutical
companies and healthcare professionals. The Department subsequently introduced
UCPMP 2024, which superseded the 2015 version and strengthened the implementation
framework. The 2024 Code is currently in operation.
The Committee will undertake a
comprehensive examination of issues relating to unethical pharmaceutical
marketing practices and make recommendations on the following Terms of
Reference (ToR):
a) To undertake a holistic and
comprehensive examination of all issues relating to unethical pharmaceutical
marketing practices.
b) To examine the efficacy of the
existing mechanisms for monitoring, oversight and enforcement with respect to
unethical pharma marketing practices, and to identify measures required to
ensure greater transparency, accountability and effective compliance.
c) To examine the need for measures
required to strengthen the existing monitoring and regulatory framework and to
suggest appropriate regulatory/statutory or any other measures and legal
framework for implementation of such measures as necessary.
d) To discuss with concerned
stakeholders, technical, professional and domain experts, institutions or
bodies, as considered necessary and consider their submissions objectively
while submitting its recommendations on the matter after a comprehensive examination.
e) To deliberate and recommend on any
other relevant issue in connection with curbing unethical pharma marketing
practices.