Did Dolo-65 makers give Doctors Rs1,000 crore freebies to push sale of tablets?

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The Supreme Court has taken serious note of the allegation that the pharma company manufacturing Dolo-65, a tablet prescribed for fever, has spent over Rs 1000 crore on freebies to doctors to promote the sales of company’s medicines.</p>
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A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna called it a "serious matter" and asked the Centre to file its response within 10 days. </p>
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"This is not music to ears. Even I was asked to have same medicine when I had Covid. This is a serious matter," said Justice DY Chandrachud.</p>
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Pharma companies giving incentives to doctors for prescribing their medicines should be held accountable, the petition filed by the Federation of Medical & Sales Representatives Association of India stated.</p>
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Appearing for the Federation, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh citing an example, said, "Dolo invested over 1000 crore in freebies to doctors so they would promote the drug."</p>
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The statement was based on an allegation made by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), after a search and seizure operation on 36 premises of the Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Limited across nine states. The Income Tax Department had said that a tax evasion of Rs 300 crore by the company had been detected in the raids.</p>
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The petition in the Supreme Court said such practices not only result in over-use of drugs, it can also jeopardise the health of the patients; such corruption also pushes high-priced or irrational drugs in the market.</p>
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The petition said due to the voluntary nature of the existing rules, unethical practices by pharma companies are flourishing and had even surfaced during the Covid pandemic.</p>
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The petition asked the top court to ensure that the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices be made effective by providing a monitoring mechanism, transparency and accountability.</p>
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The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing in the case for September 29.</p>