Some offline stores are doing home delivery as well, which is also the e-commerce model
For middle-aged and elderly patients, ‘mail order service’ for chronic medicines has been a boon in developed countries. Four pharma and healthcare veterans have joined forces to launch mChemist Global that is modelled on the successful mail order services witnessed in the US and seeks to replicate home delivery of chronic medicines in India via its online pharmacy. Rajiv Gulati, former global pharma business president of Ranbaxy and now mentor of mChemist, tells Kumar Shankar Roy why his online pharmacy is just not interested in selling antibiotics or painkillers. Excerpts:
You were the president of global pharmaceutical business of Runbacks. What made you enter online pharmacy space?
I have worked most of my life in two companies - Ranbaxy and Eli Lilly. When Ranbaxy was sold to Sun Pharma in 2014 that was a time when I was looking at options. In the US I had seen my partner Rajiv Ranjan (ex-director of CVS-Caremark) work with a successful mail order pharmacy. That was a time when I was wondering what to do next. I was 57-58 and taking up another job did not make much sense. So, Rajiv had this thought of trying to bring mail order service concept in India for chronic medicines. We brainstormed and by using our knowledge of Indian and the US contexts, we came across this whole idea of how to bring the same benefits for Indian consumers. This was the genesis of mChemist and then we launched.
What is your business model?
Our business model is very simple. We are a licensed pharmacy and we have pharmacists. It is just like a retail pharmacy doing home delivery. But we don’t take orders on phone. The customer has to sign up, and upload the prescription. Our pharmacist readies your medicines. Visit the ‘my medicines’ section and buy medicines. Easily add supplements and healthcare products to your cart. Review your order and savings. Pay securely and enjoy the convenience of mChemist. We are not a marketplace model. We are a pharmacy and we sell the medicines.
Is online pharmacy model going to give competition to brick and mortar stores?
Let me explain with some examples. Right now, 75 per cent of all travel bookings happen online. 14 per cent of cell phones are sold online. In case of pharmaceuticals, its 0.2 per cent.
The point I am making is that as in US only those medicines that are taken by patients life-long are sold through mail order pharmacies like us.
Whenever, you ne ed an antibiotic or painkiller, people almost always buy from their neighborhood store. Our focus is on chronic medicines like those used by diabetics and by patients suffering from cardiovascular ailments. That’s one-third of the market. The market is around Rs 1 lakh crore. What online pharmacies can do is reach out to smaller towns and avoid problems like counterfeit drugs. In many of these places, drug quality suffers because of inadequate storage or the drugs are close to expiry date. With online pharmacies, fully documented and fresh medicines can be sent.
So you don’t want to sell nonchronic drugs?
I am very open about it. We are not interested in selling antibiotics because I can’t make the medicines reach you in time. It may take five days to send them but you (the customer) need it immediately. What we are providing is a much-needed solution for all the senior citizens and other consumers. Patients can now order medicines online, instead of hopping from one store to another in search of prescribed medicine and health products.
There has been a mushrooming of online pharmacies in recent times. It’s getting very competitive isn’t it?
Competition is going to be there. A lot of pharmacy shops want to tap this opportunity. In future, we may not see much difference between online and offline pharmacies (laughs). Even today, some offline stores are doing home delivery. That’s the e-commerce model isn’t it?
Many acts that govern pharmacy laws were written when there was no computer. What changes are required in regulations?
The government is very keen on online pharmacies. A subcommittee has been formed to frame the guidelines for us. I think everybody realises that online is here to stay forever. So, what we need now is to adapt the laws to facilitate online pharmacies.
