After Reliance and Amazon, Flipkart turns focus to E-pharma business





Everything is happening within the e-pharma sector in India. Before that, it was Amazon India that launched its pharma online store. We then had Reliance Industries looking to acquire the famous e-pharma company NetMeds, based in Chennai. Now we've got Flipkart who wants to join the e-pharma market.

The news is that the Walmart-owned Flipkart is in talks with PharmEasy, an e-pharma firm headquartered in Mumbai, which is also reported to be in talks with another medical business called Medlife.

CEO of Flipkart, Kalyan Krishnamurthy has conducted several rounds of talks with PharmEasy's top brass, according to a story in the Times of India.

But even if the deal with PharmEasy is not happening, it is said that Flipkart is keen to go ahead with its own team and take a shot at the e-pharma market.

Even as education and entertainment in the lockdown phase shifted online , people often gravitated towards digital research, medical tests, and distribution of medication. Telemedicine has seen a large emergence. Many countries are trying to move healthcare delivery to the internet, encourage telemedicine, encourage online reservations for medication, and use chatbots to respond to patient queries.

Globally, the online pharmacy market is estimated to be one worth $55 billion. It is expected to touch $16 billion in India itself over the next five years. Yet development has been taking place in fits and starts, as there are strict guidelines for the selling of medicines. But the lockdown has made online medicine demand grow. In India, Practo, NetMeds, 1mg, PharmEasy, and Medlife healthcare startups are under focus and have also received funding from major players.

But strict government rules hampered the e-pharma market and the marked resistance from the brick and mortar medical shops.

Last year, e-pharmacies had been told by the Indian Health Ministry to partner with offline retail pharmacies only to deliver drugs to consumers rather than stockpiles. Most online retailers have criticized the regulation as it reduces their margin and raises local pharmacist dependencies.

And just a few days ago the All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) wrote to the country's prime minister and other top officials after Amazon India unveiled its e-pharma platform, claiming the launch was illegal. Their point is that e-pharmacies are illegal and are not approved by the Drug & Cosmetics Act legislation. The laws state prescriptions ought to follow sales of such medications.

The Amazon Pharmacy platform does have the option to upload a prescription from the doctor to buy some drug. It is apparently mandatory to purchase medicines on the web.

So, how successful the AIOCD protest would be is the guess of everyone.

Organizations such as Swiggy and BigBasket are now looking to diversify into distributing drugs, primarily through e-pharmaceutical partnerships.

Flipkart looks at the legal aspects of the whole problem and is also said to be in legal brain discussions to figure out any potential complications in the sector.


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