A three-member committee will review oversight of pharmaceutical promotion and consider statutory measures as scrutiny grows over India’s voluntary marketing code.
India’s Centre has appointed a three-member committee to examine pharmaceutical marketing practices and recommend changes to the current oversight system, as pressure mounts for tighter rules around how drugmakers deal with doctors. According to the order issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals on 22 October 2026, the panel will be chaired by Dr M. Srinivas, a member of NITI Aayog, with former Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and Medanta Hospitals chairman Dr Naresh Trehan as members.
The committee has been asked to submit its recommendations within two months of its first meeting, although the date of that meeting has not yet been fixed. The Department of Pharmaceuticals said it would provide secretarial support to the panel, which will report to the ministry after completing a consultative process and reviewing the material placed before it.
The terms of reference call for a broad review of unethical pharmaceutical marketing practices, including the effectiveness of existing monitoring, oversight and enforcement arrangements. The panel has also been tasked with identifying steps to improve transparency, accountability and compliance, and with considering whether regulatory, statutory or other legal measures are needed to strengthen the system.
The move follows growing scrutiny of India’s voluntary Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, or UCPMP. The code was first introduced in 2015 as an industry-led self-regulatory framework intended to keep pharmaceutical promotion accurate, balanced and evidence-based, and to stop prescribing decisions being swayed by gifts or other inducements. The order says a revised UCPMP 2024 code later replaced the earlier version and is now in force. Reports published last week said the Supreme Court had also directed the Union government to examine whether the framework should be made legally enforceable, underscoring the broader debate over whether self-regulation is enough.
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