The Union Ministry of Health is mulling to close digital pharmacies that have been flourishing across the country due to concerns surrounding the probability of its misuse, a top source suggested. The fresh development comes days after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) – the country’s drug regulator sent show-cause notices to 20-odd e-pharmacies including Tata 1mg, Amazon, Flipkart, NetMeds, MediBuddy, Practo, Frankross, Apollo, among others.
Giving a detailed account of the reason behind such stark consideration, a top official suggested there are at least three main concerns with regards to the sector.
“There are three concerns related to e-pharmacy: Collection of data and misuse by pharma companies, antimicrobial resistance due to unregulated consumption, and predatory pricing that would make retail pharmacy an unsustainable business,” the source suggested.
The officials in the ministry have reached a conclusion that approximately 12.5 lakh retail pharmacies will lose as much as 30 per cent of their business due to deep discounts offered by the e-pharmacies which could leave the interests of the common people in the hands of few companies which operate in the online space.
“You don’t need to close a business to make it unsustainable. Losing business by 30 per cent will make both retailers and consumers vulnerable to e-pharmacies and hence to safeguard the interest of both, e-pharmacies have to go,” the same source added.
Notably, the Drug Controller General of India on February 08 had issued a show cause notice to e-pharmacies asking them to respond within 48 hours on why action should not be taken against them for flouting norms. The letter explicitly suggested that selling drugs online was in violation of the Drugs and Cosmetic Acts, 1940.
As per a report by KPMG, India is home to approximately 50 e-pharmacies and revenue generated by companies in India accounted for 14 per cent of total revenue generated by e-Pharmacies in the Asia Pacific Region in 2020
