Thursday, April 23, 2026
35
C
Bengaluru
Hot topics
DigiStorm 2018: Intent, Content, Strategy and Skills
The pharma industry in India is entering a very interesting variant of the post-digital marketing era. The term “post-digital marketing” is used to depict a state where the lines between physical and digital blur considerably for a customer. However, in the context of pharma, this means a state where the industry has stopped questioning the need for digital and has begun to implement very interesting digital marketing initiatives.
Trump Tariff and the Trade Turbulence – A Salil Kallianpur Blog
Impact of Trump’s 100% tariff on imported patented/innovative drugs...
Digital Noise to Digital Voice – A 4-Module Workshop for Pharma People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOO_CNxEzwQ
When Covid19 struck for the first time in March 2020, the...
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%).
The Uncomfortable Truth about Indian Generics: Untangling the Conundrum
India’s pharmaceutical industry occupies a unique and powerful position...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Hot topics
Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart: Who Will Own India’s At‑Home Diagnostics Market?
India’s diagnostics market is undergoing a quiet but profound...
Pharma GCCs – What Used to Happen in Boston or Basel Now Happens in Bangalore
GCCs - Indian Pharma moves up the Value Chain...
IPM Powers Ahead in 2026: 11% Growth Fueled by Cardiac, Anti-Diabetics, and GLP-1 Stars
India's pharmaceutical market charged into 2026 with strong momentum,...
What Makes Managers Effective – The Google Way
After settling down comfortably into my seat on a flight from Chicago to San Francisco, I started browsing through my digital copy of the latest issue of The Economist. Much to my surprise, I saw an article titled, The Usefulness of Managers beginning with the sentence, "Is your manager really necessary?"
Bingo!!! My mind went back to so many discussions we keep having about our Indian Pharma industry and the various arguments about line management and their contributions, role clarity, their usefulness and the often-asked question, “Are they really effective?”
When the top leadership says, that effective managers are a rare breed with comments such as, “they are the weakest link in our chain”, my mind keeps racing through with the thought as to, “if they are not, who has to be responsible to make them effective?”
Having been a line manager and climbing the ladder against odds, I can understand and empathise with both sides of this management world.
However, when these doubts and questions keep raising its head often, my curiosity quotient kept raising a question, “Are we in Indian pharma very unique to have such challenges?” A chance meeting I had with a team of Google senior management personnel based in Google’s headquarters in California during this trip gave me an interesting insight on what Google did and what it continues to do.
Much to my solace I found that their apprehensions were similar to what we in Indian Pharma face. The differentiating factor was that their "people operations" team (HR) has applied the Google Way (data analytics) to management analysis and developed a manifesto entitled Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers.
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
The Healthium Odyssey: From Sutures to Scalpel-Sharp Innovation
The story of Healthium is not just one of...
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
Will the GLP Battle Now Shift from Injectable to Oral?
In India’s million-strong retail pharmacy universe, oral weight-loss pills...
The Semaglutide Paradox: Anatomy of a High-Stakes Commodity Trap
The Semaglutide Shift: From Blockbuster to Commodity
Why the $50...
Cytotoxics to Cell Therapy: A 40-Year Review of Indian Oncology Strategy
In 1989, oncology in India was not a business...
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive Director
Ritesh Desai has joined Standard Chartered India as Executive...
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