Centre forms panel to review Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices
The Department of Pharmaceuticals on 23 October 2026 constituted a three-member committee to examine how pharmaceutical marketing is regulated and recommend stronger oversight, monitoring and enforcement against unethical practices. NITI Aayog Member Dr M. Srinivas chairs it. The committee must submit its recommendations within two months of its first meeting.
Syllabus: GS4 · Ethics in Public Administration; GS2 · Government Policies; GS2 · Health, Education & Human Resources
Why this matters for UPSC
GS II health governance and GS IV ethics. Prelims can ask what UCPMP 2024 bars, who hears complaints and appeals, and what the 2002 regulations forbid doctors; Mains, whether self-regulation can curb unethical drug marketing.
Why it matters
A patient rarely chooses the medicine; the doctor writing the prescription does. A drug company may pay for a doctor's holiday or give gifts. That doctor may then lean towards its costlier brand or an unneeded combination. The patient, who often pays out of pocket, bears the cost and the health risk. Doctors already face penalties from their regulator for taking such favours, while the companies that offer them answer mainly to their own trade bodies. If the committee finds that gap needs a law, the companies' marketing budgets, medical conferences and the way sales staff meet doctors could all change. The larger issue is conflict of interest in health care.
Prelims pointers
- UCPMP 2024, clause 8: no gifts, cash or monetary grants to healthcare professionals or their families; sponsored travel and hospitality only for a speaker at a CME or CPD event.
- UCPMP 2024 allows brand reminders such as books, calendars or diaries worth up to Rs 1,000 per item; free samples go only to persons qualified to prescribe.
- UCPMP 2024 bans CME events in foreign locations; companies are to post event spending on their websites and may face independent, random or risk-based audit.
- Penalties an ECPMP can propose under UCPMP 2024 include suspension or expulsion from the association, a published reprimand, a corrective statement and recovery of gifts given.
- UCPMP 2024 takes its meaning of drug 'promotion' from the Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion, which the World Health Assembly endorsed in 1988.
- NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission; it was constituted by a Union Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015, not by an Act of Parliament.
- The Department of Pharmaceuticals was created on 1 July 2008 in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
- The National Medical Commission was constituted under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, and works under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) 2024, consider the following statements:
1. An appeal against a decision of an association's ethics committee lies with the National Medical Commission.
2. Pharmaceutical companies may not hold continuing medical education events for doctors in foreign locations.
3. Brand reminders such as books, calendars or diaries are allowed if each item is worth no more than Rs 1,000.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only. The code bans foreign CME events and caps brand reminders, but appeals stay inside the Department.
Statement 1: incorrect. Appeals go to the Apex Committee for Pharma Marketing Practices, headed by the Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, not to the National Medical Commission.
Statement 2: correct. Clause 6 of UCPMP 2024 prohibits conducting CME or CPD events in foreign locations.
Statement 3: correct. Clause 5 allows informational and educational brand reminders worth up to Rs 1,000 per item.
Eliminate: Statement 1 is the surest call, since the National Medical Commission regulates doctors, not drug companies. Out: (a), (c), (d).
Trap: Swapped attribution. The appeal power is pinned on the doctors' regulator in place of the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
Remember: UCPMP 2024 runs ECPMP in each association, then appeal to the ACPMP in the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
More from the 24 October 2026 edition
- IAEA tells UN General Assembly nuclear power could triple by 2060 World & IR
- Haryana directs HERC under Section 108 to halt parallel power licence Polity
- NSO proposes PLFS redesign from 2027 to count platform workers Economy
- Karnataka HC: six guidelines curb mechanical FIRs, arrests over social-media posts Polity
- IMD forecasts Bay of Bengal cyclone heading for north Andhra, south Odisha Environment
- NMC withdraws 2023 medical education standards regulations, ends annual renewal Polity
- Orissa High Court: road pandals may stand if movement stays open Polity
- MHA tells Supreme Court of over 21,900 digital arrest complaints in 2026 National
- Jharkhand HC quashes Sentence Review Board's 'preordained' refusal of premature release Polity
- Allahabad HC: POCSO compensation cannot be refused for lack of injury Polity
- MoRTH draft proposes mandatory emergency braking (AEBS) in cars from 2030 National
- Kerala HC: State liable for wild-animal attacks despite not owning animals Environment