Supreme Court asks the Union to set up a committee to recommend regulation of pharmaceutical marketing practices

8 October 2026

A Supreme Court bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta directed the Union of India to constitute a committee on pharmaceutical marketing practices.
The committee is to consider suggestions and representations received and then make its recommendations to the Union.
The case is Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Associations of India and others versus Union of India and others, W.P.(C) No. 323 of 2021.
Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh appeared for the petitioners and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the respondents. The Court had reserved orders on September 8, 2026.
The petition seeks statutory force for the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which at present is a voluntary code.
The code bars gifts, travel, hospitality and cash or monetary grants to physicians and their family members.
The Union told the Court it is considering the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in its 45th Report, to give the code statutory backing.
The matter is listed again on 29 January to consider the Union's compliance affidavit.