New Delhi: The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, a lobby group for drug manufacturers, Wednesday released the details of the meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened with the industry on 1 January
The press statement issued by the IPA denied that PM Modi had warned pharma companies “not to bribe doctors” and to “use ethical marketing practices”. ThePrint stands by its report.
The IPA said the meeting was attended by top names in the pharma industry, including Pankaj Patel of Cadila Healthcare, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma, Habil Khorakiwala of
Wockhardt, Rajiv Modi of Cadila Pharma and Sudhir Mehta of Torrent.
The meeting was called to discuss future roadmap for growth of the healthcare industry The focus of discussion was on: Research and development, building innovation ecosystem, improving access to high quality medicine, and strengthening global competitiveness of the industry,” said a press statement issued by the IPA.
It added that “there was no discussion on Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practice in the meeting”.
ThePrint had approached IPA secretary-general Sudarshan Jain on 10 January through a phone call for comment on the meeting with the PM. Jain had denied having any information. Sources had told ThePrint that Modi intervened after the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers’ Department of Pharmaceuticals warned drug-makers on 23 December that it would bring in statutory provisions for pharma marketing. The meeting was chaired by DoP secretary P.D. Vaghela, and attended by all pharmaceutical associations in India, including the IPA.
This article was originally published on The Print