Purechem Research Labs Private Limited

In their own words

In spite of being the ‘pharmacy of the world’, access to essential medicines for a large majority of Indians is constrained by both physical and financial reasons. According to an estimate, medicines account for 69% of household out-of-pocket spending on health care. Almost 65 percent of India’s population that resides in rural India has access to only 30 percent of the total available health infrastructure. In India, while affordability has received policy focus, in the form of price controls; the availability of medicines, especially in rural areas, has remained a matter of grave concern. “Physical reach” is a parameter used to evaluate access and is defined as “the presence of a pharmacy within 5 km from the place of residence or work”. Using this definition, a study in 2012 found that, in rural areas of India, 63% of people were not able to access pharma facilities within a 5 km distance. Due to poor access, patients often tend to delay routine check-ups or avoid treatment, resulting in the late detection of health conditions or no treatment in early stages. This along with the epidemiology shift to NCDs is leading to a massive challenge in front of us. Medicine inaccessibility in rural India is a multi-faceted problem. Organized Pharmacy companies are reluctant to open outlets in rural areas as their growth is largely propelled by urban demand. The Top 2 Pharmacies in India cover less than 10% of the population of India. To top it, low margins, problems operating pharmacies and security concerns have ensured only limited penetration of pharmacy companies in villages. However, with drug sales increasing at 17% in rural areas, and with more than a third of the nearly ₹80,000 crore domestic annual sales coming from rural and semi-urban markets; this presents a huge opportunity for pharma companies to expand in rural markets, which will be the growth drivers for the domestic pharma industry in the coming years. Another major fault line is frequent stock-outs. The current ecosystem is designed to have detailed systems in place to avoid such crises. Drug stocks in the public health system are meant to be regularly monitored and the suppliers are kept in the loop about future requirements. Hence, whenever such drug stock-outs occur, they are man-made — either out of neglect or out of self-interest. There must be a system of checks and balances to hold every member involved in the supply chain accountable, so that stock-outs, when they happen, can be curbed, right from their source. As per a study, ~60% of medicines in public health facilities are out of stock for upto 6 months putting massive risk on disease progression. A generic drug is a medication created to be the same as an existing approved brand name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, and performance characteristics. Generic drug manufacturers do not have to spend extra money for drug discovery and preclinical and clinical trials. Generics are available at a lower cost; they provide an opportunity for savings in drug expenditure in a country. The low cost of generics is an alternative to branded drugs and hence generics dominate, making up for 70 to 80% of the retail market. As India’s population grows, especially the aging population has significantly increased the demand for generic medicines on account of their affordability and effectiveness, which is same as branded medicines.

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