Dolo 650 maker refutes ‘baseless’ allegations of Rs 1000 Cr spent for bribing doctors

Following a plea in the Supreme Court by an NGO accusing the maker of Dolo 650 of bribing the doctors to prescribe the product, the company on August 19 has come out and termed the allegations as 'baseless and incorrect'. Notably an NGO, Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court alleging Micro Labs gave freebies worth Rs 1000 crore to the doctors to prescribe the drugs. The PIL by the NGO is filed based on certain observations made by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). 

The company that manufactures Dolo 650, Micro Labs said it was simply unviable to spend the amount of Rs 1000 crore as Dolo 650 made Rs 350 crore in the COVID affected year.

'Unviable to spend Rs 1000 crore'

"It is impossible for any company to spend Rs 1000 cr on the marketing of a brand which did 350 cr in the Covid year. That too when Dolo 650 comes under NLEM (price control)," said Jayaraj Govindaraju, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communication, Micro Labs Limited while speaking to ANI.

He also claimed that apart from Dolo 650, many other products were widely used during the onslaught of COVID-19. "It was not just Dolo 650, even other COVID protocol drugs like Vitamin C and Vitamin combinations also did very well during COVID," he added.

PIL filed in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on August 18 termed the issue of providing freebies to doctors by Micro Labs in return for prescribing drugs as a 'serious issue'. An NGO based on specific findings of the CBDT had filed a PIL alleging the maker of Dolo 650 had bribed doctors with Rs 1000 crores to have its anti-fever drug prescribed to the patients. 

The SC has asked the Centre to file its response in under 10 days to the PIL, which has sought action against the pharmaceutical manufacturer to be held liable for giving freebies to doctors.

Prices of molecules of formulations

The issue is also about the molecules of the formulations, which are out of the purview of price control, said Dr Chandra Gulati, Editor, Monthly Index of Medical Specialities (MIMS). They should also be brought under price regulation demanded Gulati and said, "The problem is certain formulations of a paracetamol are under price control like 500 mgm is under control, but 650 mgm paracetamol isn't. So they can sell the drug at higher prices," he said.

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