DRAP bans brand names of medicines in doctors prescriptions

LAHORE: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) in a circular prohibited medical practitioners from writing brand names of medicines in prescriptions, ARY News reported on Sunday.

“The doctors in their prescriptions should write the generic formula of the medicines,” the regulatory authority said in its advisory.

“The DRAP has made it unlawful for doctors to write the medicine’s manufacturer’s name in their prescriptions,” according to the circular.

“It is a common practice that the private as well as government hospitals’ doctors write the ‘brand name’ of a medicine in their prescriptions with expensive price.” “The patients become overburdened to purchase expensive medicines of a specific brand,” the DRAP circular read.

“Now the medical practitioners will write generic formula instead of the brand name of a medicine,” the letter further read.

“Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit has received several complaints with regard to the doctor’s habit to suggest brand names of medicines in their prescriptions,” the DRAP circular concludes.