The department of pharmaceuticals has allowed pharma and medical device makers time till 31 July to file their legal undertakings assuring the government that they will not indulge in unethical marketing practices to promote their drugs.
Priyanka Sharma
Published25 Jul 2024, 03:51 PM IST
Under the norms of UCPMP, the government had earlier asked pharma associations to appoint a nodal officer from each member firm to monitor their company’s marketing practices and deal with matters related to the UCPMP. (Photo: Mint)
New Delhi: The central government has extended the deadline for pharma and medical device company bosses to file their legal self-declarations assuring the government that they will not indulge in unethical marketing practices to promote their drugs.
These companies can now file the self-declaration undertaking till 31 July 2024, wherein top executives from these firms must assure the government that they will not engage in unethical marketing practices.
These undertakings are required to be filed for FY25 under the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), 2024.
Given the inability of some drug and medical device makers to meet the set deadline, some of them had requested the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) to extend the deadline.
Consequently, the extension comes as a relief for these firms, as failure to meet the requirements would have invited action from the government.
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“With reference to this Department's Circular dated 28th May 2024 made under Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP)-2024, it is informed that the time for submitting the Self-declaration under UCPMP-2024 has been further extended till 31.07.2024,” stated the DoP's communication to pharma associations, which was also seen by Mint.
Queries sent to the department of pharmaceutical remained unanswered till press time.
Not the first time
These requirements were brought in by the government after Micro Labs—the makers of Dolo 650 mg—was allegedly found to be offering freebies to doctors during Covid-19 pandemic to prescribe its anti-fever medicine.
The UCPMP was rolled out in March 2024 with an objective to bring transparency and ensure ethical conduct by pharmaceutical and medical device making companies in their marketing practices.