Indian Pharma Embraces UCPMP Guidelines for Ethical Marketing

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The Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) 2024 guidelines have been recently released, and the Indian pharmaceutical sector sees it as a practical approach to promoting ethical marketing practices in the country.

The guidelines have been well-received as they have included constructive suggestions from various stakeholders. However, Dr. Sunil S Chiplunkar, Vice President of Business Development at Group Pharmaceuticals, noted that the UCPMP guidelines should have allowed small brand reminder gifts to doctors.

The UCPMP guidelines are expected to emphasize adopting ethical marketing practices, providing focused training for field personnel, and developing reliable Continuing Medical Education (CME) materials. In the future, the guidelines are expected to encourage companies to use constructive, ethical pharmaceutical marketing practices.

The guidelines call for establishing an internal UCPMP committee, a novel concept that will enable proper implementation by the company. The latest UCPMP guideline also emphasizes joint research work between academia and companies, an allowable expenditure under the Income Tax Act 1961.

The UCPMP guidelines also provide an Ethics Committee for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (ECPMP) in all registered Indian pharmaceutical associations. This highlights the importance of self-regulation and accountability in the guidelines. However, it may be challenging for ECPMP members to address issues when complaints are lodged.

One limitation of the UCPMP guidelines is the absence of a timeline for when pharmaceutical associations should establish their ECPMP. Additionally, there is no mention of who could be the members of ECPMP, as pharmaceutical associations are often a mix of retailers, manufacturers, non-marketing pharmaceutical professionals, and academic faculty, even though exclusive pharmaceutical manufacturers associations like IDMA and KDPMA exist.