PHARMA LITERATI

Indians can’t purchase medicines online legally anymore. On Dec.12, the Delhi high court ordered a complete ban on online pharmacies across the country with immediate effect, asking the central government to implement the order. The court order is in response to a petition which stated that the sale of drugs and prescription medicines online was illegal and without any mandate of law and, therefore, a health risk: Unlike common items, drugs are highly potent and its misuse or abuse can have serious consequences on human health, not just for the one person consuming it but for humanity at large as some drugs can be addictive, habit-forming and harmful to the body. A large number of children/minor or people from uneducated rural background use the internet and can be victims of wrong medication while ordering medicines online. India’s pharmacy laws are derived from the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Drugs and Cosmetics Rule, 1945, and the Pharmacy Act, 1948. These laws...

With the online sale of medicine getting gaining popularity, the Union Health Ministry has begun the process of regularising the e-pharmacies.  Last week, the ministry issued a set of draft rules to amend the Drug and Cosmetics Rules 1945 to allow the sale of drugs through e-pharmacy.  An e-pharmacy has been defined in the new rule as a business of distribution or sale, stock, exhibit or offer for sale of drugs through a web portal or any other electronic mode.   The notification describes the rules and regulations for registering the e-pharmacies and the procedure for sale through the online mode.  The e-pharmacies are prohibited to sell medicines specified under the categories of the Narcotic and Psychotropic as referred to in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; tranquilisers and the drugs listed in the Schedule X.   Schedule X medicines are mostly sedatives, barbiturates, stimulants, psychotropic medicines, anti-anxiet...

The government is likely to lift the temporary ban on online sale of medicines following an expert committee's recommendations that keeping prescription drugs out of the online platform may be unfair to consumers in present times. Clearing the roadmap for resuming online sale of medicines that had been banned around a year ago, the Drugs Consultative Committee has submitted its report to the drug regulator -Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).“ We are in the process of adding our comments to the report and will forward it to the health ministry in the next few days ,” a senior official in the DCGI's office told TOI. However, the committee has suggested a number of safeguards, including a legal framework and maintenance of prescription record, while allowing sale of medicines online, the official said while indicating the general consensus in the government as well as among regulators to allow sale of medicines through e-commerce platforms. The suggestions ma...

Govt plans level playing field for online pharmacies vis-à-vis brick and mortar chemists The government is working on a policy governing the sale of medicines online by startups such as 1mg.com, Bookmeds, mChemist, Medidart, Medlife, Medstar, Netmeds, Pharmeasy and Zigy .com that have disrupted the brick and mortar model. This comes as chemists plan a one-day shutdown of their shops later this month in protest against what they allege is the illegal online sales of drugs by such companies. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant wrote to health secretary CK Mishra in October seeking comments from the health ministry on the broad contours of a policy that will ensure a level playing field for e-pharmacies vis-à-vis traditional retailers. “ Quality, cost and access are critical for ensuring timely provision of medicines for all ,” Kant said in the October 13 letter that ET has seen. “ E-pharmacies can help facilitate access to medicines in a timely manner, even in underserved are...

At this juncture, when we are moving towards ‘ Digital India’ and are encouraging the use of technology in all services, it is important that we do not take any step which could be detrimental to the growth of this channel and restricts the consumers to access to all modes of distribution. Further to work towards the vision of ‘Digital Health’, e-pharmacy is again an important aspect which needs to be well considered in terms of better outreach to consumers. To better understand this new channel of distribution and to analyze its challenges and the ways to address them, FICCI has developed a white paper - 'ePharmacy in India - Last mile access of medicines'. The white paper will be released at a seminar on 25th of July, 2016 at FICCI, New Delhi office in the presence of Government dignitaries, Industry players and other concerned stakeholders.  

We recently published a post on the "Nationwide Chemist Strike on 14th Oct against online medicines". We thank Mr. Pankaj Gupta for his comments: Please see http://pharmaliterati.blogspot.in/2015/10/nationwide-chemist-strike-on-14th-oct.html We have received a response from one of the readers, which is worth sharing here: "It`s unfortunate to see that Lakhs of chemists are making wrong decisions based on directives from few people in associations who have vested interests behind such strikes. We at Mera Medicare LLP (www.meramedicare.com) aspire to bring efficiency, transparency and innovation in the overall Healthcare sector but these kinds of strikes and blind following is truly regressive for the society.  Local chemists don`t really understand who`s their competitor and who`s their partner and that`s why they are falling into this 'Bhed-chaal'. Hyperlocal Marketplace such as Mera Medicare is a true partner of these local chemists while c...

An article on the website of online drug store mChemist caught the attention of mine which does an empirical analysis of the business of online pharmacy. A must read for the readers who care for the community, who care for themselves and their near and dear ones, who are interested for the business and the new trends. Please see the article at  http://www.mchemist.com/blog/online-pharmacy-business-in-india-past-present-and-future/ It covers following different topics, 1. What is online pharmacy? 2. Legal status in India 3. Formalities to be made when opening an online pharmacy 4. How many online pharmacies are present (Current situation)  5. Recent developments and solutions  Request our readers to send their opinions on the article to pharmaliterati@gmail.com

Following Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recent actions on e-commerce site Snapdeal.com, the state regulator has also sent notices to e-commerce site, shopclues.com, for online sales of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kit. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) pills are recommended by physicians only for pregnancies that haven't exceeded 63 days. Medical abortion pills are prescription drugs that are different from emergency contraceptive pills. They are taken between 7 to 9 weeks of pregnancy and cause the embryo to be expelled from the uterus. Chemists can dispense the drug only against a prescription issued by a doctor who is registered under the MTP Act.  Maharashtra FDA in its recent raids at e-commerce sites office in Mumbai found drugs like sildenafil citrate tablets, which are to be sold on prescription by urologists, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and dermatologists and also emergency contraceptives i-pill and Unwanted-72. Rule 65 pr...