The Supreme Court directed the Center to set up a panel to regulate unethical marketing of medicines

Supreme Court of India. File | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Supreme Court on Thursday (Oct 8, 2026) directed the Union government to set up an expert committee to examine whether pharmaceutical companies should be brought under a legally enforceable framework to curb unethical marketing practices.

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A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed the Center to constitute the committee in accordance with its earlier directions and observations.

“We have directed the Union of India to constitute a committee and give its recommendations in terms of our earlier directives and observations. The matter will come up before the court on January 29, 2027 to show compliance with the orders of the court,” Justice Mehta said, reading out the operative part of the order in open court.

The Supreme Court issued the directions while hearing a petition filed by the Federation of Medical and Trade Representative Associations of India (FMRAI), seeking a statutory mechanism to regulate pharmaceutical marketing and check alleged unethical practices involving medical professionals.

The petition raised concerns about drug companies allegedly offering doctors expensive gifts, foreign trips and other incentives, in addition to aggressive promotional practices, to encourage the prescription of particular drugs.

Earlier, in an affidavit submitted to the court, the Union government had said that the existing Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), 2024, is working satisfactorily in dealing with unethical marketing practices. However, she acknowledged a gap in the legislation to bring pharmaceutical companies within the legal framework.

The government also outlined its previous attempts to provide statutory support for regulations governing pharmaceutical marketing, informing the Court that efforts between 2013 and 2018 raised questions about the appropriate legal authority and how such regulations could be enforced.

Subsequently, in September 2022, the Center established a high-level committee led by Dr. By VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog. The committee preferred to continue with a voluntary code with stronger safeguards, rather than making it legally binding.

This led to the introduction of the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), 2024, which brought additional disclosure requirements, an Ethics Committee on Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (ECPMP) and stricter provisions on gifts, physician samples and continuing physician education. It also set timelines for redressal of complaints, along with audit and referral mechanisms and established the Apex Committee for Pharma Marketing Practices (ACPMP).

The committee will now assess whether the existing voluntary code needs statutory support and submit its recommendations to the Centre.

The Bench will take up the matter again on January 29, 2027 to check compliance with its directions.

The suit before the high court alleged that although it is called “sales promotion”, in reality doctors are offered direct or indirect benefits (such as gifts and entertainment, sponsored foreign trips, hospitality and other benefits) in exchange for increased drug sales.

She argued that such unethical promotion could affect doctors’ prescribing practices and adversely affect patients, leading to overprescribing, taking unnecessarily high doses, treating for longer than necessary, and prescribing excessive amounts or irrational combinations of drugs.

Published – 8 Oct 2026 13:04 IST