The pharmaceuticals industry has proposed changes in Schedule K of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act that deals with drugs exempted from a sales licence.

Permitting access to common household medicines in all outlets nationally -- by removing the population restriction in Schedule K -- will be a big step towards supporting responsible self-medication, the industry recommendation said.

This is in response to the Mashelkar Committee report, which had underlined "the need to improve the access to household medicine and products for the masses in the interest of preventive health".

According to the industry, the current level of awareness about "first line of health defence" medicines is poor.

Swati Piramal, director & chief scientific officer of Nicholas Piramal said, "There is an increasing OTC-like branding with major brands at Nicholas. The focus is on patient education, consumer awareness and preventive health. Better point of sale material at the chemist and improved distribution to rural areas are part of this initiative."

She also mentioned that while some of the company's prime brands such as Avomine, Sorbitrate and Supradyn have an OTC kind of recall, the company will retain these brands in its product portfolio and would further nurture them.

"Drawing a parallel from the FMCG industry, pharmaceutical companies such as Nicholas are investing heavily into enterprise resource planning, distribution resource planning and customer relationship management. Currently Nicholas is deploying the latest generation software like SAP, I2 and CRM solutions," she added.

The industry players have recommended the deletion of Clause 13 (a) under Schedule K, which deals with the population criteria.

At present, item 13 of Schedule K of the Drugs & Cosmetics rules that the sale of listed household remedies (excluding medicines containing substances specified in schedule G, H and X) requires sale licence for selling in villages having population over 1,000, thereby limiting their easy availability to vast majority of population.