The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has finalized the draft of a code of ethics on the relationship between pharmaceutical industry and doctors practicing in Pakistan. "After completion of consultation on the draft code, it would be enforced as a law to curb unethical practices by the pharma industry, doctors and to safeguard the interests of patients," Dr Muhammad Aslam, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), here Wednesday.
He told journalists that DRAP has prepared a code of ethics to regulate the relationship between pharmaceutical industry and doctors and in this regard, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) is also being involved to take action against doctors who are found indulged in unethical practices, which include acquiring monetary benefits from the pharmaceutical industry.
He said under the new code of ethics for doctors and pharmaceutical industry being prepared by the DRAP, doctors serving at public and private hospitals would not be contacted by the pharmaceutical companies directly for foreign tours and instead of that, managements of hospitals would decide to send doctors for international conferences, seminars and trainings.
Penalties and criminal cases would be lodged against pharmaceutical companies and their managements for bribing doctors, involvement in unethical practices and tax evasion if they found to be indulged in unethical practices, the DRAP CEO maintained.
According to Aslam, so far in the current year, DRAP cancelled the licenses of 13 pharmaceutical companies for producing spurious and substandard drugs and halted the production of 23 companies on similar charges. Heavy fines were being imposed on pharmaceutical sector, retailers, medical store owners and distributors for selling spurious drugs.
"In 2015, DRAP imposed a combined fine of Rs 75 million, lodged hundreds of FIRs and sealed 33 pharmaceutical units for producing substandard and spurious drugs. In 2016, we imposed a collective fine of Rs 105 million and lodged over 600 FIRs against producers of spurious and substandard drugs," he added.
Similarly, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, doctors, pharmacists and nurses were penalized and criminal cases were lodged against them for giving fake and spurious drugs to patients at their private clinics and workplaces, he claimed.
The Central Drug Testing Laboratory in Karachi is in the final stages of getting the World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualification status and by the end of this year, CDL of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan would become accredited from the WHO, Dr Aslam informed, adding that this would help improve quality of local drugs and enhance their exports.
"Not a single drug testing lab in Pakistan is pre-qualified by the WHO in Pakistan but after getting this status, it would help Pakistan save precious foreign exchange and exporting our drugs to various other countries of the world," he added.
The DRAP Chief further claimed that they have also started the post marketing surveillance of drugs in Pakistan for the first time in the history of the country and this would help them in knowing the efficacy, safety and adverse effects of drugs after they reach the hands of patients and consumers.
"This system would also help us root out the menace of spurious and substandard drugs from Pakistan and would also save precious lives in case of any spurious or dangerous drug being sold in the market," he maintained. He further claimed that DRAP had made the process of registration of drugs transparent and now nobody was being asked by the RDRAP staff to pay them money illegally for speeding the drug registration process.
"We are trying our best to safeguard the interests of patients as well as pharmaceutical industry so that nobody has complaints against each other and the relationship remains beneficial for either of them," he added.
All pharmaceutical companies have been given six months till December this year for having bar codes on the packs of their products after a notification in this regard was issued in June 2017, making it mandatory to have bar codes on the packs of drugs, Dr Aslam said.
"The system of bar codes would eliminate the chances of fake and spurious drugs as anyone would be able to scan the bar code to find out the legal and production information about the medicines being sold in the market," he added.
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