The Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has issued a circular notifying the Amendment to the Uniform Code for Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices (“UCPMP”), 2024 with a view to promote ease of doing business and simplify the reporting requirements under the extant guidelines.
The Department has extended the time limit for submission of disclosure of the particulars of marketing expenditure and declaration of compliance with the Code till 30th September 2025.
Key Highlights:
- Pertaining to the requirement Disclosure of marketing expenditure by the Chief Executive Officer of the company, the amendment provides the following options:
- If the company is a member of more than one Association, the disclosure shall be submitted to any one Association of which the company is a member of while informing the other Association(s) of having done so
- If the company is not a member of any Pharma Association, the disclosure shall be made on the UCPMP portal of the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
- With respect to the disclosure of marketing expenditure, the amendment further provides the following method to calculate the value of free samples distributed to healthcare practitioners
- In case the company is the manufacturer of such samples, the samples should be valued on a per unit basis, i.e. per tablet/capsule/vial/gram/ml etc., and its value should be the price charged to the stockist or immediate customer on per unit basis
- In case the company has purchased such samples from another supplier, the purchase price should be used for determining the monetary value of free samples under this Code.
Source: Department of Pharmaceuticals
