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Saturday, February 21, 2026
31
C
Bengaluru
Hot topics
The Pill is Now a Commodity – Can ‘Beyond the Pill’ Models Work in India?
The pill is now a commodity that many of these companies provide at heavy discounts, making money off everything ‘beyond the pill’. Investors are betting heavily on the potential of technological innovation to transform the way healthcare is delivered.
The Economic Times reported that in 2021, India recorded investments of $77 billion across 1,266 deals including 164 large deals worth $58 billion. While the money reduced in 2022, the reason wasn’t a lack of faith in this business model.
Meanwhile, the pharmaceuticals industry that is most affected by this quiet but rapid change, is grappling with its entrenched culture. Its current business is so profitable that everything else pales in comparison.
‘Build, measure, learn, build again’ – a mantra of the health tech industry is alien to pharma that doesn’t learn, build or measure after launching a product.
Pharma also thinks of its customers as doctors alone and does precious little to connect with patients, or caregivers. People who are not sick do not feature on their radar at all. These are cultural values that keep pharma focused on the pill and discourage thinking beyond it.
A social media poll conducted by MedicinMan showed almost predictable responses. 100+ respondents who work in the pharma industry in India were quite clearly divided. 48% of them wanted to know what beyond the pill actually meant, while 23% wanted to know how to execute it.
The rest felt that the ultra-competitive environment in the Indian generics market required very high share-of-voice tactics (19%), or that their customers demanded product information (9%).
Generics Only
Special issue, focusing on the generic versus branded debate that has opened up post the government mandate that Doctors should online prescribe generics.
MedicinMan Steps into Year Five
Articles by K. Hariram, Daxesh Patel, Gopal Kishore, Amit Jain, Sunil Bajaj and Vivek Hattangadi
Top 25 Indian Pharma Companies by Revenues in 2024
India pharma is crucial for global healthcare, providing affordable...
The Ethics Curve
K. Hariram reports on the OPPI 50th Annual General Meeting held in Mumbai on October 21. The report also features photos from the conference. Other topics covered include the role of emotions in pharma marketing, the importance in preparing much before-hand for the next level of your pharma career and the concept of the "tipping point" and its relevance for pharma marketing.
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India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
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India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
On one...
India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
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Hot topics
Digital in Health – Making Healthcare Patient Centric
Interview with Hanno Wolfram, author of Digital in Health
Anup...
Don’t Do Digital for the Sake of Doing Digital
Catalyzed by the pandemic, the pharma industry quickly progressed from being digitally agnostic to a state of preparedness.
The shift required the industry to experiment with technology in its customer-facing plans, which resulted in many cases the creation of random acts of digital, often without a cohesive overarching strategy.
Can pharma do better? The answer lies in understanding the utility of their digital assets while building a mindset to transform, and ensuring that teams within the organization do not work at cross-purposes.
What Exactly Does Going Digital Mean?
Going digital is not about Social media or Omni channels. Is it about asking simple questions.
Best Buy is one of the largest electronic good retailers in USA. Few years ago Best Buy was threatened by what is now known as Showrooming effect. Basically customers would walk into its showrooms get benefitted by the advice of the salesperson, decide on the model and then go online to buy the product on Amazon because of low prices. Despite having one the best footfalls in the decade Best Buy recorded reduced profits. Although it did try to Price match Amazon they knew it was not a long-term solution because of its cost structure (Physical showrooms, salespeople etc). They couldn’t block the customers from checking price of product on Amazon. Future looked uncertain, everyone thought game over for Best Buy which was the case with many other retailing giants. No amount of investing new technology would have helped Best Buy .
Best Buy relearned how to make profits. Best Buy proposed to the manufacturers that they compensate Best Buy for exclusive showcasing of manufacturers new products. Manufacturers also could launch specific brand kiosks within Best Buy showroom for a fee. This new model which had zero investment for Best Buy dramatically increased its profitability.
Is this a ground breaking innovation? Of course NO. This has already been practiced in other industries but for the first time tried in Electronic good Retail. Best Buy realized apart from consumers it created lot of value for manufacturers therefore it captured the value lost from consumers from manufacturers.
What is my business? What is my business ecosystem? How do I currently make money? How changing one thing impacts my ecosystem? What are the options available?
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India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
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Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
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Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
On one...
India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
On one...
India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
On one...
India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
From Overuse to Overreaction: Recalibrating India’s C-Section Debate
India’s caesarean section debate is drifting toward polarisation.
On one...
MedicinMan was launched in 2011 as India’s 1st Magazine dedicated to the cause of Field Force Excellence in Pharma and Devices.
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Headlines
India’s Pharma Renaissance: Private Equity at the Helm
Indian pharmaceuticals have long been known as the “pharmacy...
The ₹5 Snack SKU: A Silent Indian Metabolic Crisis
Executive Summary — The Paradox of Scale
In the annals...
Sleep Apnea: Apnimed Pill to Replace CPAP Machine?
In India, where urban sleep debt is rising, obesity...
Why the World Still Doesn’t Celebrate Antibiotic Breakthroughs llike Zaynich
When a new cancer drug shows promise, it trends...
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