Dolo-650 makers gave freebies worth Rs 1,000 crore to doctors for prescribing tablet: SC told

India

oi-Deepika S

New
Delhi,
Aug
18:
The
Supreme
Court
Thursday
was
told
by
an
NGO
that
the
Central
Board
of
Direct
taxes
has
accused
the
Pharma
company
manufacturing
popular
Dolo
tablets,
an
anti-inflammatory,
fever
reducer
drug,
of
distributing
Rs
1000
crore
freebies
to
doctors
for
prescribing
a
dosage
of
its
650
mg
tablets.

A
bench
of
Justices
DY
Chandrachud
and
AS
Bopanna
was
told
by
senior
advocate
Sanjay
Parikh
and
advocate
Aparna
Bhat,
appearing
for
petitioner
‘Federation
of
Medical
and
Sales
Representatives
Association
of
India’,
that
the
market
price
of
any
tablet
up
to
500mg
is
regulated
under
price
control
mechanism
of
the
government
but
the
price
of
drug
above
500mg
can
be
fixed
by
manufacturer
Pharma
Company.

He
said
that
to
ensure
a
higher
profit
margin,
the
company
distributed
freebies
to
doctors
to
prescribe
the
Dolo
drug
of
dosage
650mg
capacity.

Parikh
added
that
it
is
an
“irrational
dose
combination”
and
said
that
he
would
like
to
bring
more
such
facts
to
the
knowledge
of
the
court
after
a
response
is
filed
by
the
Centre.

Justice
Chandrachud
said,
“What
you
are
saying
is
music
to
my
ears.
This
is
exactly
the
drug
that
I
had
when
I
had
COVID
recently.
This
is
a
serious
issue
and
we
will
look
into
it”.
The
bench
asked
Additional
Solicitor
General
KM
Nataraj
to
file
his
response
to
the
plea
in
ten
days
and
gave
one
week
time
thereafter
to
Parikh
to
file
his
rejoinder.

It
listed
the
matter
for
further
hearing
on
September
29,
2022.

A
counsel
sought
permission
from
the
court
to
file
an
intervention
on
behalf
of
the
Pharma
companies,
which
the
court
allowed
saying
it
would
like
to
hear
them
also
on
the
issue.