Karachi: Implementation of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan’s Ethical Marketing to Healthcare Professionals Rules, 2021 has begun, with several major pharmaceutical companies starting to submit details of their marketing expenditure to the regulator, DRAP officials said on Friday.
The development was shared at the 3rd National Conference on Pharma Marketing, held during the 23rd Health Asia International Exhibition and Conferences at the Karachi Expo Centre, where regulators, industry representatives, pharmacists and marketing professionals called for transparent and responsible promotion of medicines.
DRAP Director Medical Devices Dr Fakhruddin Amir said ethical marketing was no longer optional for the pharmaceutical sector and companies must comply with both national law and universally accepted principles governing their interaction with healthcare professionals.
He said the central purpose of medicine promotion should remain patient welfare, rational use of medicines and access to accurate scientific information, rather than merely increasing sales.
“The role of pharmacists is equally important as they are an essential link between pharmaceutical companies, prescribers and patients, and can help ensure that promotional claims are evidence-based, balanced and used in the best interest of patients,” he said.
Dr Amir said DRAP’s responsibility was to safeguard the rights of patients and consumers while ensuring that companies operate within the legal and ethical framework. He added that disclosure of marketing-related expenditure would improve transparency and help strengthen public confidence in the pharmaceutical sector.
The Ethical Marketing to Healthcare Professionals Rules, 2021, notified by DRAP under SRO 1472(I)/2021, regulate interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals. The rules are intended to ensure that such interactions support rational prescribing, scientific education and patient care, while preventing undue influence in promotional activities.
Session moderator Syed Jamshed Ahmed, Deputy CEO of PharmEvo said pharmaceutical companies were often portrayed as villains, while physicians and prescribers were viewed as the sole healers, although medicines remained a fundamental component of modern healthcare and provided relief to millions of patients.
He said concerns over unethical promotion needed to be addressed through open discussion instead of treating pharmaceutical marketing as an issue that could not be debated publicly.
He thanked Health Asia and its organiser Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed for providing a platform where regulators, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals and marketers could discuss the sector’s challenges and work towards improving standards and public trust.
Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, organiser of Health Asia and chief executive of Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan, said the exhibition had been held since 2004 and had developed into one of the country’s leading health-sector platforms, bringing together regulators, healthcare providers, industry, academics and technology companies.
He said healthcare could not function without a responsible pharmaceutical industry, which had a duty to market medicines with care, scientific integrity and sensitivity to the financial and health needs of patients.
Dr. Zakiuddin also called for an association of pharmaceutical marketing professionals to promote professional standards, training and cooperation with regulators and other stakeholders. He said responsibility for unethical practices could not rest on companies alone, adding that prescribers and healthcare institutions must also uphold professional independence and reject any practice that compromises patient-centred treatment decisions.
Kamran Nasir, Senior Vice-President of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association, said prices of deregulated non-essential medicines, which he said accounted for around 60 percent of the pharmaceutical market, had not gone out of control because competition and consumer demand restrained price increases.
He said annual price adjustments for essential medicines were linked to a limited portion of the Consumer Price Index, claiming that the industry generally received an increase of only around three to five percent. Nasir said manufacturers faced rising costs of raw materials, utilities, packaging, financing and compliance, while also supporting a large workforce and contributing substantial taxes.
Other speakers, including PharmEvo Managing Director Haroon Qasim and Medisure Laboratories owner Sheikh Kaiser Waheed, discussed responsible digital marketing, saying the use of artificial intelligence, social media and digital platforms must not dilute scientific accuracy, patient privacy or ethical boundaries.
The conference schedule included a panel on “Digital Pharma Marketing: A New Currency”, examining how companies can use digital tools to engage doctors and patients with credible scientific content while measuring value beyond online reach and clicks.