Key Points
New Delhi:A group of foreign multinational pharmaceutical companies has reached out to the Indian government seeking clarity on whether doctors can attend medical conferences outside India on the invitation of companies headquartered abroad, ThePrint has learned...
The new UCPMP, which seeks to draw a line of ethical relationships between medical professionals and drugmakers, clearly says that pharmaceutical companies should not organise conferences for doctors in foreign locations...
The new code says that conduct of such events in foreign locations is prohibited but pharmaceutical companies, including their trusts or associations, either alone or in collaboration with professional bodies, can organise such conferences in India...
Anil Matai, director general of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), a network of research-based global pharmaceutical companies in India, said the organisation had reached out to the government a few days ago to understand what happens in cases where medical conferences are organised by firms headquartered abroad...
Since our member companies are outside India, they normally organise such events abroad, and the intent is not to take doctors to foreign locations but to expose them to breakthrough developments in the pharma sector, he said.. Therefore, we have requested the government to elaborate on the provision and also sought clarity on when the new rules come into effect.. Matai also said that all members of the organisation were bound by the OPPIs stringent code of pharmaceutical practices that were far more strict than Indias UCPMP and drew clear boundaries for relationships between pharma firms and healthcare professionals...
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