NEW DELHI: Pharmaceutical company Micro Labs Limited on Friday he called “unfounded” and “wrong” allegations of giving gifts worth Rs 1000 crore to doctors to promote his Dolo 650 tablets.
The manufacturer of Dolo 650 claimed that the brand had run a business of just Rs 350 crore when Covid was at its peak and was simply impractical to promote the drug by spending a much larger amount.
“It is impossible for any company to spend Rs 1000 crore on marketing a brand that made Rs 350 crore in the year of Covid. This is also when Dolo 650 comes under NLEM (price control),” said Jayaraj Govindaraju, executive vice president. , marketing and communication, Micro Labs Limited talking to ANI.
According to Govindaraju, it wasn’t fair Dolo tablets but also many of the company’s other products that have been widely used due to the Covid onslaught. “It wasn’t just Dolo 650, even more Covid protocol drugs like vitamin C and vitamin combinations also worked very well during Covid, “he added.
On Thursday the Supreme Court described the issue surrounding the allegation that the manufacturer of the Dolo 650 had distributed freebies worth Rs 1000 crore as a “serious problem”. An NGO, based on some findings from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), had raised the issue of freebies used to encourage doctors to prescribe drugs.
The Supreme Court asked the Center to file its response on GDP within 10 days asking for directions to make pharmaceutical companies responsible for providing gifts to doctors as an incentive. A bank of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna were informed that the makers of Dolo-650 mg tablets had invested Rs 1,000 crore in freebies to get patients to prescribe its anti-fever medication.
The Central Board for Direct Taxes has accused the makers of the Dolo-650 tablet of distributing freebies worth Rs 1,000 crore to doctors as consideration for prescribing the tablet, said senior attorney Sanjay Parikh, who appears for the Federation. of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India. Judge DY Chandrachud noted that this is a “serious problem” and said he too was prescribed the same tablet during COVID.
According to Dr Chandra Gulati, editor of the Monthly Index of Medical Specialties (MIMS), not only drug formulations but also their molecules should be subject to price controls to avoid such activities.
“My opinion is that there are about 2000 molecules in India and of these not even a third are under control and companies can price them as they want. The problem is that the basic salt is not under price control, what is under the price control there is the formulation, for example if paracetamol is 500, 600 or 125 milligrams. Now, if paracetamol is under price control, the problem is solved, but it is not. ”
“The problem is that some acetaminophen formulations are under price control like 500 mg of acetaminophen are under control, but 650 mg of acetaminophen is not. So they can sell the drug at higher prices.” He said.
A Delhi-based drug distributor, Kanav Nangia, said the price of Mark and Dolo 650 is similar but the distribution fee is more than Dolo 650. “The demand for the drug is still high due to the viral fever and Covid,” the distributor said.
When asked about these aspects, Govindraju said that the manufacturer of the Dolo 650 had also reduced the distribution rate.
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