Regulation of India’s online pharmacy market

India’s online pharmacy market saw two significant merger and acquisition deals which were Reliance Retail picking up majority stake in Chennai-based e-pharmacy Netmeds, and PharmEasy moving to merge with smaller rival Medlife.

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Key-Points

The government had floated draft regulations for e-pharmacies but these guidelines never saw light of the day. Regulations for online pharmacy players have been in the works since 2016 but are yet to come out.

Draft rules for e-pharmacies sought to define the online sale of medicines, what an e-prescription means and what type of licences online firms would need to get from regulators to operate.

The draft had proposed to allow e-pharmacies to get a central licence to operate from the country’s apex drug regulator, which could be used to allow it to operate across the country.

It also proposed to define e-pharmacies in a way that would allow them to distribute, sell and stock medicines.

The proposed regulations prevent them from selling habit-forming drugs like cough syrups specified in Schedule X of the Indian drug regulations.