A study done by the Mumbai-based Forum for Medical Ethics in 2003 revealed that drug companies sponsored weddings and handed out cellphones to doctors if they thought this could get them to prescribe their brand. While the more expensive gifts — such as an exotic cruise — are reserved for high-value prescribers, expensive cutlery, home accessories are handed out as candies to medical practitioners.

Moreover, drug companies take advantage of the practice in India of patients going directly to the drug stores, giving chemists a say in their choice of drugs. Chemists often substitute a doctor’s prescribed brand for another of the same drug if it gets them better margins. This has led some companies to promote medicines directly to the trade at 1,000 per cent margins and keep their maximum retail price unchanged.

This shows up in what the consumer pay. Vending drugs by their scientific name instead of by brand name while keeping the quality unchanged will bring down this cost, say health experts. Ramesh Bhat, a professor at IIM Ahmedabad, cites the example of SEWA, an NGO that has reduced drug prices by 15-20 per cent by running pharmacies that stock ‘generics’.

“Quality drugs are cheaper when purchased under their generic names,” says the website of Vadodara-based Locost, another NGO that makes and supplies generics. Currently, the law does not force doctors to prescribe by generic name, nor chemists to dispense the cheapest drugs available. In a country, where over Rs 20,000 crore of drug brands are sold every year, a shift is unlikely — nor is it practicable — in the foreseeable future.