City-based Dolo-650 maker in hot water for doling out freebies to doctors

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

The Bengaluru-based manufacturers of popular paracetamol tablet Dolo 650, which was widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic, is now facing allegations of unfair trade practices.

 The lawyers representing Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India (FMRAI) on Thursday claimed before the Supreme Court that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had found that the Dolo maker Micro Labs Limited (MLL) had given away inducements worth Rs 1,000 crore.

The freebies were supposed to convince doctors to prescribe Dolo-650 as the antipyretic of choice during the pandemic.

On July 6, CBDT raided MLL premises in nine states and they claimed that the pharma firm had evaded taxes upwards of Rs 300 crore.

The Bengaluru-based representative of FMRAI, B. Chandra Kumar, on Friday clarified that their plea was about implementation of fair practices in the pharmaceutical industry in general and not just one Bengaluru-based company. “We had made a petition to the Supreme Court for making the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) statutory with stringent punishment clauses on violation, as the pharmaceutical companies are not abiding to the directives voluntarily as it exists at present. The Apex Court directed the Central government to give their submission within a stipulated time frame,” Kumar said.

He claimed that the Union government had been dragging its feet on the issue. “The government is evading their submission and delaying the case. In the intervening period in reply to a question in the Parliament, the minister made a statement that no violation is reported by civil society on the issue and our federation has filed a case in the Supreme Court which is pending,” he added.

‘Inducement claim by CBDT’ Kumar pointed out that the claim of inducements was made by the CDBT and not the petitioner. “In yesterday’s (Thursday’s) hearing date the government again did not give their submission, at that point of time our lawyer submitted the CDBT report regarding one company categorically stating that it is the observation of a govern[1]ment agency as published in the media and not our statement,” he said.

“He also submitted the statement of the minister in the parliament to expose the contradictory role of the Central Government. On the one hand, they are stating that the issue is in the Supreme Court. On the other, they are not submitting their reply to our petition in the court and causing delay,” he added.

Media coverage inaccurate The FMRAI member alleged that the media coverage on the issue had not been accurate. “Surprisingly the media is making their own stories and putting it as our statement without even verifying the facts to dilute the issue and turn the direction to a specific brand of a company instead of exposing the pharmaceutical industry practice of ‘pay for prescription’, which is designed by the larger section of employers in the pharma sector to register quick sales and maximize profits,” Kumar said.

 “Our submission is that the government must frame laws to stop unethical practices, and reduce prices of essential medicines by DPCO (Drug Prices Control Order) which will benefit the common people of the country,” he added