By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : If a doctor in Pakistan writes prescriptions for a specific high-price drug, the drug company rewards the doctor with the down payment of a brand new car, according to a new report that details the unethical practices of drugs promotion.
The situation is not very different in India too, notes the London-based Consumers International, which describes itself as the world federation of consumer groups that serves as “the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers”.
The report, titled ‘Drugs, Doctors and Dinners: How Drug Companies Influence Health in the Developing World.’, expresses concern at the unethical effects and adverse impact on the health sector of the many ways in which large funds are devoted to advertising and marketing by drug companies.
Calling for a ban on gifts to doctors, the report says that doctors in the developing world are being showered with gifts and inducements to persuade them to prescribe drugs of dubious value.
The report states: “Consumers trust doctors to act in the best interests of their patients. However, most consumers are largely unaware of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing on the very health professionals they rely on.
“Between 1995 and 2005, the percentage of total spending on sales and marketing was by far the biggest corporate expense for the pharmaceutical industry. The excesses of drug marketing are well recognised by industry insiders”.
Citing the example of India, the report notes that in developing countries the systems and resources to effectively monitor and regulate the marketing of medicines are not necessarily in place.
In 2006, India was one of the fastest growing markets in 2006, with pharmaceutical sales increasing 17.5 percent to $7.3 billion, according to the report. It states: “Even in India, a fast emerging economy with a pharmaceutical industry of its own and a relatively strong civil society, there is inadequate oversight of the drug industry.
“According to a 2003 memorandum of the All India Drug Control Officers Confederation, in order to be effective, the number of drug inspectors needed to more than quadruple from 700 to 3000.
“Campaigners for the rational use of drugs say that regulatory authorities in India are slow to protect consumers from drugs that have been banned, withdrawn, or marketed under restrictions in North America, Europe, and many other Asian countries.
“For example, Rofecoxib, the internationally recalled antiarthritis drug sold by Merck & Co. as Vioxx, Ceoxx and Ceeoxx, was among some of the controversial drugs available in the domestic market in 2005. The drug was officially banned in India, in October 2004, a month after the official Merck recall”.
The report says that among the promotional tactics employed by pharmaceutical companies is the practice of giving gifts to doctors. In developing countries, these range from small items such as gifts, pens and notebooks to expensive foreign holidays, televisions, air conditioners and even jewellery.
Multinational drug companies hire marketing professionals and try to build a personal rapport with doctors by remembering special occasions like their birthdays, anniversaries and festivals, it adds.
In Pakistan, Murad M Khan, professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Aga Khan University, is quoted in the report as reporting that gifts given by drug companies in Pakistan include: pens/pads/diaries/calendars; stethoscope/books/briefcases; and airconditioners/laptops/desktop/computers/club membership.
Richard Lloyd, of Consumers International, said: “The pharma industry sees the developing world as a trillion-dollar opportunity … but consumer health expenditure in these countries can ill afford to be squandered.
“The best way to ensure patients in the developing world get rational impartial treatment is … to ban gifts for doctors.”
Consumers International says it has 220 member organisations in 115 countries and is building a “powerful international movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere”.
It adds: “Founded in 1960, the organisation is now needed more than ever. This modern movement is essential to secure a fair safe and sustainable future for consumers in a global marketplace increasingly dominated by international corporations”.