Government notified a Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)

Government notified a Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)

The Central Government notified a Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)

The Code reads: No gift should be offered or provided for personal benefit of any healthcare professional/family member by any pharma Cos/ agent/ distributors/ wholesalers/ retailers. No pecuniary advantage or benefit in kind may be offered, supplied, or promised to any person qualified to prescribe or supply drugs by any pharma cos/ agent/distributors, wholesalers, retailers. Pharma Cos/representatives, should not extend travel facilities inside or outside the country, including rail, air, ship, cruise tickets, paid vacations, etc to healthcare professionals/ family members.

The Code reads “Pharma Cos should not extend travel facilities to health care professionals for attending conferences, seminars, workshops, unless the person is a speaker. Pharma Cos/representatives should not extend hospitality like hotel stay, expensive cuisine, or resort accommodation, to healthcare professionals/ family members unless the person is a speaker. Pharma Cos/ representatives should not pay cash or monetary grants to any healthcare professional/ family member.

The Code reads “Free samples of drugs shall not be supplied to any person who is not qualified to prescribe such a product. Each company should maintain details such as product name, doctor name, quantity of samples given, date of supply of free samples to healthcare practitioners and the monetary value of samples so distributed should not exceed two percent of the domestic sales of the company per year”