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 The Supreme Court has observed that doctors across India must prescribe only generic medicines, not branded ones, stressing that the implementation of such a directive could lead to a transformative change in healthcare affordability and ethics.

 

The remarks were made by a three-judge bench comprising Justice Sandeep Mehta, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sanjay Karol while hearing a public interest litigation petition seeking regulation of unethical marketing practices by pharmaceutical companies earlier on Thursday.

 

“If this directive is implemented across the country, it will bring about a huge change,” said Justice Mehta, citing the example of Rajasthan, where an executive instruction mandates medical professionals to prescribe only generic drugs, barring them from recommending branded pharmaceuticals.

 

The petitioner contended that drug manufacturers routinely offer bribes and incentives to doctors to push for overpriced branded medications, thereby raising medical costs for patients and promoting irrational prescriptions. Such practices, the court was told, can result in the overuse of drugs, adverse health consequences, and even create dependency among users.

 

The petitioner further sought accountability for pharmaceutical companies that provide freebies and gifts to medical practitioners.

 

During an earlier hearing, the advocate representing the Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India (FMRAI) referred to a press release from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), alleging that the manufacturer of Dolo 650—a widely used paracetamol formulation—had spent as much as ₹1,000 crore in the form of freebies to promote the drug.

 

The court suggested that a statutory requirement for the prescription of generic medicines alone could eliminate the influence of unethical promotional tactics by drug manufacturers.

 

“This will follow in line with what you are praying. In Rajasthan, there is now an executive instruction that every medical professional will have to prescribe generic medicine. They can't prescribe by any company name. That should take care of the things,” the bench said.

 

The court’s observation has renewed calls for national-level policy intervention to regulate pharmaceutical marketing and lower drug costs for the general population.