{"id":206066,"date":"2022-09-15T19:35:22","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=206066"},"modified":"2022-09-15T19:36:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:06:54","slug":"examining-the-dolo-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/examining-the-dolo-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining the Dolo scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Examining the Dolo scandal\u201d <\/strong>published in\u00a0The Hindu<\/strong>\u00a0on\u00a015th<\/sup> September 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 Government policies for various sectors<\/strong><\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> Recently, a controversy came up regarding the marketing strategies of Micro Labs which is a Bengaluru-based pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n

Micro Labs is the maker of Dolo-650. It was charged of having bribed medical doctors with freebies worth \u20b91,000 crore in one year to promote Dolo-650.<\/p>\n

Dolo is a paracetamol tablet to help with fever and mild pain.<\/p>\n

What are the problems with paracetamol markets In India?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The paracetamol API is mostly imported from China. There has been an upward pricing pressure because of the difficulty of ensuring regular supply from China.<\/p>\n

Paracetamols markets in India are full of competitors.<\/p>\n

Therefore, The Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO) has established ceiling prices for over 850 medicines which include the brands of paracetamol.<\/p>\n

It makes it difficult for pharma companies to offer freebies to doctors in paracetamol marketing.<\/p>\n

Still, Micro Labs took this challenge of offering Rs 1000 crore for the promotion of Dolo.<\/p>\n

What could be the reason for offering freebies for the marketing of Dolo?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

There may be two reasons for offering freebies \u2013<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To increase higher sales at low margins in order to make the valuation look better.<\/li>\n
  2. For building their brands by higher over-the-counter sales.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    However, there might be other reasons for giving freebies as well.<\/p>\n

    What steps have been taken by the government to stop freebies for doctors?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

    The Uniform Code of Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices of 2015<\/strong> prohibits gifts, payments and hospitality benefits to doctors by the medical representatives. However, this code has been fully voluntary since 2015 and there is no enforcement mechanism.<\/p>\n

    The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance<\/strong> is meant to enforce the code has also given a clean chit to Micro Labs.<\/p>\n

    Further, the Income Tax Act, 1961<\/strong> disallows deductions for payments to doctors and the tax deducted at source (TDS) is applicable for all payments made to doctors.<\/p>\n

    The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002<\/strong> also prohibits the disbursement of gifts. It may also lead to cancellation of license if found guilty.<\/p>\n

    What can be the further course of action?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

    First,<\/strong> prescriptions should be written without brand names. It should be made the normal practice.<\/p>\n

    Doctors will then have no incentive to promote particular brands. Pharmaceutical companies also will have no incentive to give freebies to doctors.<\/p>\n

    Second<\/strong>, there should be a flat dispensing fee in place of incentives for pharmacists. It will prevent pharmacists from recommending a brand name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Source: The post is based on an article\u00a0\u201cExamining the Dolo scandal\u201d published in\u00a0The Hindu\u00a0on\u00a015th September 2022. Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 Government policies for various sectors News: Recently, a controversy came up regarding the marketing strategies of Micro Labs which is a Bengaluru-based pharmaceutical company. Micro Labs is the maker of Dolo-650. It was charged of… Continue reading Examining the Dolo scandal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-206066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":2,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698383887},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}