Competition Commission of India Extends Deadline for Bids to Conduct Pharma Study

The Competition Commission of India, which is responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002, has extended the deadline for submitting bids to carry out a detailed study of pharma and healthcare services sector in the national capital region.

The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations, which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

Indian Government Decides to Assess the Impact of FDI in Pharma Companies
A report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce had suggested that a study group be set up to investigate the effect of FDI in brownfield pharma or operational firms.

The anti-trust regulator is planning the study to understand whether there are unfair practices in this sector as part of larger efforts to clamp down on anti-competitive business practices and has also passed many orders in this regard.

In recent years, CCI has come across various instances in the pharmaceutical sector where competition norms seem to have been violated.

Entities interested in conducting "baseline study/ survey in the pharmaceutical sector and healthcare delivery system/ services in Delhi & NCR region," for Competition Commission of India (CCI) can now submit their bids till November 5.

Indian Government May Bar Pharmaceuticals from Giving Gifts to Doctors
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has prepared the Uniform Code of Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices and its voluntarily adoption and compilation was started this year.

The earlier deadline for submission of bids ended on October 17.

Under the proposed study, public and private hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and their associations, doctors and their associations, among others, would be covered.

67th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress to be Held at Mysore from December 19 to 21
More than 10,000 delegates will take part in the event to be organized with the theme Pharmacist for a Healthy India, said Dr B Suresh, organizing committee president.

While inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) in September, the watchdog had said that it came across various issues in pharmaceutical sector and healthcare delivery systems/ services.

These include "non-availability of essential medicines, increasing price of drugs, nexus between pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists, nexus between pharmacists and doctors, nexus between doctors and pathological laboratories, nexus between doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and nexus between hospitals and insurance companies etc", it had said.

Over-the-Counter Supplements Blamed for 23,000 Emergency Visits Each Year
Weight loss aids were found to be the leading culprit in this age group, causing more than half of those emergency room visits.

As per CCI, the primary objective of the baseline study/ survey is to collect information and credible evidences on competition issues in the concerned sector and present the same in an analytical manner.

Source-PTI