Govt moves to curb online ads, self-medication of risky drugs

The government is planning a sweeping overhaul of drug-advertising rules to curb self-medication, unsafe sales and rising antimicrobial resistance, according to two officials and a document reviewed by Mint.

- Priyanka Sharma

Currently, drug licences do not explicitly ban advertising.

(MINT)

The rules come at a time when advertisements of potent antibiotics, psychotropic drugs, hormonal therapies, and unapproved imports increasingly surface on online platforms.

The draft proposal, now before the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), focuses on strengthening enforcement by amending the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 and closing a major regulatory loophole. Currently, drug licences do not explicitly ban advertising—the draft proposes a ban on advertising high-risk Schedule G, H, HI, and X drugs as a mandatory condition of all drug licences, according to one of the officials cited earlier, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Schedule G, H, HI and X drugs range from antibiotics to narcotics, and come with strict labelling, storage and recordkeeping requirements, and cannot be sold without a doctor’s prescription.