Start-ups collaborate with chemists

 The domestic pharma market is worth $22-24 billion and it is through offline retail chemists. The pharma industry is experiencing a shake-up due to the entrance of online pharmacies. 

The unorganized retail chain takes up the largest share of the pie in the pharma industry followed by a small segment of organized retail chemists. In the financial year of 2021, three e-pharmacies took up space in the pharma industry.

Dawaa Dost is a Rajasthan based digital health start-up backed by a Singapore Angel Network works with the local kirana stores and the women self help groups that operate in villages and then service these orders through its affiliated network of pharmacies. Biddano is another health-tech start-up based in Pune that acts as an aggregator for neighborhood chemist shops. MedleyMed is a Hyderabad based start-up that offers telemedicine kiosks at chemist outlets, apart from digitizing pharmacies. 

 Biddano works with stockists and distributors directly and provide connectivity with the retailer who often does not carry much inventory. They ensure that if a chemist places an order through Biddano, he gets the order delivered within three hours. 

All the new pharma start-ups are causing a shake-up in the pharma business. The offline players are gearing up to modernise themselves and new players are not only looking to source and make medicines available at reasonable prices but are also offering e-pharma options to standalone retailers.