The covid-19 epidemic is the first and foremost human disaster in 2020 . It has impacted everyone's life drastically. It has led people to shift towards E-commerce.
It has also resulted in unprecedented rise in e-commerce transactions across India.
In line with this, e-pharma sector also witnessed growth despite regulatory challenges.
E-Pharmacies are online platforms where consumers can purchase medicines without having to visit brick-and-mortar pharmacies. In 2015, IIPA (Indian Internet Pharmacy Association) was formed by 11 initial start up E-pharmacy companies like 1 MG, Netmeds, Bookmeds, mChemist, Medlife, Pharmeasy, Medidart, Medstar, Zigy, Save on medicals and Save my meds.
Anupama Mishra, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments, “One of the reasons for the recent higher uptake of e-pharma can be attributed to top e-pharma players such as Netmeds and PharmEasy providing e-consultation services and offering heavy discounts to their end consumers. It is eventually expected that there will be a significant rise in their consumer base as COVID-19 cases are rising at an alarming rate in India.”
The increasing importance of E-pharma market can also be indicated by interest development of big companies in this sector. It was reported that majority stake of Netmeds were bought by Reliance Industries (RIL) in August. Amazon pharmacy also launched services like prescription based and over-the-counter medicines for customers in Bengaluru.
Some of the current rules and regualtion of selling prescription are:
• Medicines can be sold by only registered pharmacist with valid retail license.
• H, H1, X, medicines cannot be sold without valid prescription.
• All medicines delivered must be verified by the registered pharmacist at vendor.
• Record of customers and ordered medicines must be maintained by the pharmacy retailer with seperate record of Schedule X and H sold to the customer.
• E-Pharmacy cannot accept foreign countries residing customers.
• Export of the medicines is illegal as per Indian Government.
• Selling prescription drug to the minor is prohibited.
• Sale of banned drugs through online or offline pharmacy is prohibited.
• Sale of drugs higher than MRP is a punishable offence as per Indian law.
The growth of E-pharma sector is likely to be beneficial for the traditional pharmacies as well as customers. Especially in this ongoing pandemic, this sector has gained wide popularity among people. It has made it possible for people, even the ones living in remore areas, to get an easy access of medicines and consultations. It is on its way to become one of the most vital and crucial sectors in India.
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ReplyDeleteMedPlus, India’s second-largest pharmacy retailers is closing on a deal that brings an investment of ₹1,500cr from Warburg Pincus. This potential investment signals that e-pharma players are working up their capabilities via partnerships and holistic strategies.
Warburg is known as a growth investor ever since its exit from Bharti Airtel in 2004-5. In August, Reliance Retail took up 60% equity in Netmed’s parent- Vitalic around when PharmEasy merged with Medlife. These may be owing to promising growth in the industry which is both young and fragmented.
E-pharmacies make up only 3% of pharmaceutical sales in the country let alone the technical challenges. In the absence of digitally-compatible data and security, interoperability cannot be ensured. Thus, the e-pharma success depends on dynamism and adaptability to the Indian market.
Click here for more detail : https://transfin.in/growth-of-e-pharma-sector-in-india-possibilities-and-challenges
I Like to add one more important thing here, The E-Pharma Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 109 Billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 14.5% in the given forecast period.
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