By India Blooms News Service Aug 20, 2022
#Dolo, #ParacetamolTablets, #MicroLabs, #Freebies
New Delhi: Pharma company Micro Labs Ltd has rejected the Central Board for Direct Taxes's (CBDT) allegation that it distributed freebies worth Rs 1,000 crore to doctors to have its paracetamol tablet Dolo-650 prescribed.
"It is impossible for any company to spend Rs 1000 crore on the marketing of a brand which did Rs 350 crore in the Covid year. That too when Dolo 650 comes under NLEM (price control)," Jayaraj Govindaraju, executive vice president marketing and communication, Micro Labs Limited told ANI.
On Thursday, Justice DY Chandrachud, heading the bench hearing the case, said that the matter was serious one. "This is not music to my ears. I was also asked to have the same when I had Covid. This is a serious issue and matter," he said, as quoted by Bar & Bench
In the Federation of Medical & Sales Representatives Association of India (FMRAI) vs Union of India case, advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing for the petitioner FMRAI, said that DOLO had invested the amount in 'freebies' to have it prescribed, according to Bar and Bench (B&B).
The market price of any tablet up to 500 mg is regulated under price control mechanism of the government but the price of the drug above 500 mg can be fixed by the Pharma company concerned, they told the court.
Parikh alleged that to ensure a higher profit margin, the company manufacturing Dolo tablets distributed freebies to doctors to prescribe the 650 mg drug.
“What you are saying is music to my ears. This is exactly the drug that I had when I had COVID recently. This is a serious issue and we will look into it,” Justice Chandrachud said.
The Income Tax department had on July 6 raided 36 premises of the Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Ltd. across nine states.
It listed the matter for further hearing on September 29.