‘Gift-giving’ – from free dinners and drug samples to promotional merchandise – seems to be driving drugmakers’ marketing – a marketing prescription deeply entrenched in the industry. This is a well-oiled racket that sees pharmaceutical (pharma) companies ‘gifting’ doctors to push their respective drugs under the guise of marketing.
But is there a cure in sight to end this unhealthy alliance?
The recent controversy following the income-tax raids on Bengaluru-based drugmaker Micro Labs, makers of popular paracetamol brand Dolo-650, has brought this to the fore, again. It is likely to move the needle on making the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical