Are pharma MNCs good for Indian consumers? - NO

The news item that Glaxo is proposing to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiaries has been greeted with cheer by the market. Naturally, those who have shares in GSK are happy.

Do we need such encouragement from MNCs who run away from India when the market is doing badly and come back when they see an opportunity? In the nineties and the first decade of this century, many pharma MNCs had shut their manufacturing plants and resorted to mere trading and marketing. But India is a free and large-hearted country — MNCs are welcome to invest or even increase their investment as long as they play by certain written and unwritten rules.

Rules to follow The first rule is to invest in manufacturing facilities here. Make the medicines in your own plants than in sub-contracted micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Second, invest in manufacturing of new molecules and not trade or import from your parent plants elsewhere and profit through transfer pricing. Third, manufacture rational products, price them affordably. Do not make exaggerated claims on the R&D and therapeutic uses of the product even as you provide transparent information on the side-effects of the product.

If a product of your MNC is withdrawn in the country of its origin, please withdraw it here without waiting for our government directives. And lastly, comply with the laws of this country.

One would expect world-class MNCs to set an example of top-class marketing ethics — free of the malpractices that accompany pharma marketing. And if you are participating in clinical trials here, do so openly, maintain the maximum amount of transparency regarding products and people being tested, and on serious adverse events such as death. And compensate liberally in case of such serious adverse events.

Glaxo had a torrid time in China recently over alleged collusion with doctors to boost sales. Way back in the nineties the company’s expired products in India were allegedly found to be resold up north. Its plants were also reportedly ordered shut for sometime.

Glaxo now claims that it will no longer pay doctors to promote its products and will stop “tying compensation of sales representatives to the number of prescriptions doctors write.” It will also stop providing financial support directly to doctors to attend medical conferences. But it will continue “to find out how doctors think about its products”. Will these policies be implemented in India right away or with a ‘phase lag’, as with clinical trials?

If pharma MNCs resort to business as usual practices, we could go back to saying that we really do not need pharma MNCs, reminiscent of the good old seventies. Indeed, we can manage with our home-grown companies as long as they do not offer themselves for sale.

(The author is with All India Drug Action Network and LOCOST, Vadodara.)

Also read: >Are pharma MNCs good for Indian consumers? - YES

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