PHARMA LITERATI

Most of India's young entrepreneurs come from the IT sector, and not many from the pharma. However, a 17-year old 12th class student Arjun Deshpande is different. Earlier this year, Deshpande founded a pharmacy retailing chain Generic Aadhar with an aim to sell generic medicines to the masses at much cheaper rates than the market price (generics are sold at almost 40 per cent premium to the ex-factory cost). His unique pharmacy aggregator business model is to source generic drugs directly from the manufacturers and give it to the retail pharmacies, eliminating the 16-20 per cent wholesaler margin along with other layers of margins such as C&F agents in the trade. Already about a dozen retailers, who were finding it difficult to cope with the intense competition from established medical stores on one side and the deep discounted sales strategy of online pharmacies on the other, have joined the Generic Aadhar fold. The stores are offered a free face-lift with Generic Aadhar...

After a grueling contest among budding start-ups, healthcare venture Swagene pipped over 1,350 other entries to win the 11th edition of Conquest at the BITS Pilani’s International Startup Conclave in New Delhi. While 99.9% of a person's genes are identical, the 0.1% difference makes a person unique. Swagene is a startup that is working on helping individuals discover this uniqueness and use it for a healthier life. This will help personalise medicine by ensuring that the right dose of the right drug is used for treatment at the right time. The jury members included Shailesh Vikram Singh, Executive Director at Seedfund; Dev Khare, Managing Director at LightSpeed India Partners Advisors; Nilesh Kothari, co-founder and managing partner at Trifecta Capital Advisors; Mathieu Morand, Investment Associate at Orios Venture Partners; Anant Vidur, VC Investment Professional at Bessemer Venture Partners, among a host of other distinguished people. About Swagene: http://swagene...

Indian Express reports that the Union government is planning to come out with a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund to promote start-ups on drug discovery. Addressing the inaugural round-table session on ‘Bio and Pharma 2015’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Chennai,  Union joint secretary of Department of Pharmaceuticals M Ariz Ahammed said that the idea was in the nascent stage and refused to divulge further details. “The disease burden in India is shifting from communicable to non-communicable and the drugs available are already patented. Post-WTO, there is an urgent need to discover new drugs or else affordability would be a big issue,” he said.   Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/Rs-1K-cr-VC-Fund-for-Pharma-Start-ups-likely/2015/08/27/article2995210.ece

Pharma industry veteran Rajiv Gulati, who quit last year as president Ranbaxy, is floating a start-up which offers a 'mail order service' for chronic medicines, particularly for patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes. mChemist offers home delivery of essential medicines and over-the-counter drugs, booked either online, or through a soon to be launched mobile app.  Investments in health and life sciences sector are witnessing a huge traction in the wake of the immense potential in the sector, with other start-ups including Healthkart Plus (1 mg) and Netmeds, also operating in the pharma space.  The start-up which has been self-funded at the moment, is not averse to fund-raising, Gulati said, adding "Senior citizens and other consumers can now order medicines online, or by uploading a prescription on the mobile app, instead of hopping from one store to another in search of prescribed medicine, to overcome issues of non-availability, lack of authentici...