The Dadha Group India e-Pharmacy – NetMeds.com launched

Starts with Chennai as the distribution hub, to expand its warehousing presence to 16 cities by 2016

The Dadha Group owned NetMeds.com has announced the commencement of its operations.

Billing itself as ‘India Ki Pharmacy’, the site offers an impressive selection of both prescription drugs and non-prescription products (OTC) drugs, supplying over 25,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) across India from its first warehousing hub in Chennai.

Company plans to offer 24-hour delivery in Chennai and two to four-day delivery in other cities of the country. NetMeds plans to expand its presence by setting up warehouses through tie-ups in 16 metro and non-metro cities in next 12-18 months period.

The portal offers prescription medication users an opportunity to select their required medications from more than 260 drug categories for the chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol control.

Commenting on the occasion Pradeep Dadha, Promoter, NetMeds.com said, ‘Not everyone knows the exact name of the tablet they are taking, but they all know the condition they’re dealing with. Likewise, they may not be able to read their prescription, but that’s where our pharmacists can help. With this portal we aim to reach the third-tier cities and more remote areas where drug availability is limited. Prescription medicines will be dispensed strictly and only against a valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner.”

Apart from branded drugs, portal will offer generic alternatives for every medicine ordered on the website. The Indian pharmacy market is estimated at Rs 83,000 crores with drug consumed for chronic aliment such as diabetics, blood pressure, hypertension, etc. accounting for over 40 per cent of the share.

In addition to the prescription drug catalogue, Netmeds offers eight categories of over the counter (OTC) remedies for pain, category for diabetic support like monitors and test strips, personal care section and others. In the non-prescription category, there are currently a total of 3,000 SKU’s including many of India’s top brands like Loreal, Fogg and Axe. The current, and ever-expanding catalogue of prescription tablets, capsules, ointments and compounds boasts 25000 SKU’s, including both brands and generics. Products are sourced from more than 185 Indian manufacturers, including a home page menu of the top 25, such as Sun, Ranbaxy, Cipla and Dr Reddy.

Pradeep Dadha, Promoter and the MAPE Advisory Group have together chipped in Rs 60 crores in NetMeds Marketplace in the initial round of funding.

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/healthcare/happening-now/pan-india-e-pharmacy-netmeds-com-launched/85030/

Telangana State pharmacist has a pill for prescriptions

HYDERABAD: A one-man campaign that started in the sleepy town of Nalgonda in 2012 is on its way to rewrite (literally) medical history — making it mandatory for doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters so as to make these legible. Prescriptions, the way they are written now, have taken lives.

While a formal gazette notification by the Union health ministry is round the corner, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is circulating a prescription format (to be used by doctors) to all state medical councils across the country. The letter, which TOI has a copy of, says doctors must write the name of medicines, dosage, strength, duration and total quantity in "capital letters only".

From his run-down pharmacy in Nalgonda, 47-year-old Chilkuri Paramathma used the Right to Information Act, filed PILs and wrote innumerable letters to the Union health ministry, the MCI, the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) and the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) to enforce his 'prescription' for prescriptions.

"In my 25 years of practice as a pharmacist, names of medicines always fascinated me. There are several similarly spelt drugs that can stump a pharmacist as one single letter or even a hypen can sometimes be the only difference between two completely opposing drugs. Imagine the havoc it can cause," said Paramathma.

On February 22, 2012, Paramathma got to know of a Hyderabad-based pregnant woman who was advised Microgest 200 mg (used for fetus growth). "So illegible was the writing in the prescription that the pharmacist mistook Microgest for Misoprotol — which is used for abortion. The woman lost her baby," he recounted.

In July 2013, a patient died in Hyderabad after he was administered a wrong injection by a pharmacy. The drug control administration later shut down the pharmacy.

Paramathma cites a plethora of drugs that spell and sound almost the same, but have quite different effects on the body. "Consider L-CIT and L-COT, KARDIA and KARDIN, JUCAN and JUGAM, IKA and IKKA, IDEBEN and IDIBEND, NEPOMOX and NEPOTOX, NIFDEC and NIFEDINE, OCUVIT and OCUWET, E-PRIN and EPRIL... The list is endless," he says.

Following several missives to various departments and a hearing at the Andhra Pradesh HC, a division bench in 2014 directed MCI to look into the aspect of illegible handwriting of doctors. Following this, the Union health ministry directed MCI to look into the case.

Now with formal notification on the way, doctors and MCI have welcomed the move. "This man's move has catapulted the MCI into action. Once it's a law, the responsibility will also lie with the pharmacy council as well as drug control administration," MCI member K Ramesh Reddy told TOI.

True to his name, Paramathma has just given a boon of life to many.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Telangana-pharmacist-has-a-pill-for-prescriptions/articleshow/47714106.cms

Target selling clinics, pharmacies to CVS Health for $1.9 billion

Target’s pharmacies, clinics, will be rebranded as CVS/pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations.

Target’s TGT 0.19% pharmacies will soon all become CVS locations.

The discount retailer and CVS Health CVS 0.39% announced a deal worth $1.9 billion Monday under which Target will sell its 1,660 pharmacies and 80 clinics, which will be rebranded as CVS/pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations. These will be operated as “stores within a store.”

For Target, the deal gives it cash injection a few months after it took a $5 billion write down on its aborted Canadian business, and the deal lets it concentrate on its e-commerce and core retail businesses. It will also allow it to improve its health and wellness offerings, a key prong in Target CEO Brian Cornell’s strategy for rejuvenating its business.

As for CVS Health, the deal allows it to expand its retail footprint by hundreds of locations as it competes with Walgreens WBA 0.82% , currently the largest U.S. drugstore operator. In particular, it will get a stronger presence in key markets such as Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake City. CVS/pharmacy currently has 7,800 drugstores (Walgreens has more than 8,000.)

Read about Target in the new Fortune 500

CVS Health said it will open as many as 20 new clinics in Target stores within three years of the close of the deal, part of its plan to operate 1,500 MinuteClinics by 2017. Target plans to build out five to 10 small, flexible format stores within two years under the TargetExpress name. Those will include a CVS/pharmacy.

“By partnering with CVS Health, we will offer our guests industry leading health care services, and at the same time, sharpen our focus on elevating the way we deliver wellness products and experiences to our guests,” Brian Cornell, Target Chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/target-cvshealth/