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Online pharmacy Netmeds.com is creating a pool of data analytics that will help leading domestic drug manufacturers target consumers and doctors more efficiently.
The Chennai-based health-tech start-up said that it will be ready with the data pool by June and plan’s to monetise it by providing it as a SaaS tool to drug manufacturers.
Advait Suhas Pandit, CTO, Netmeds, told BusinessLine that the pharmaceutical manufacturers do not have access to critical information related to stocks in many regions which directly impacts sales. For example, in some regions there are less stock resulting in lost sales; while in some there is overstock leading to returns. In both cases, overall sales is impacted, Pandit said.
Proper data will help the companies unearth targets for drug pipeline, improve patient recruitment and enhance monitoring. Besides, it can help identify adverse drug reactions that are not formally reported.
Pandit said that currently the data are available only as sample data that sales representatives of pharma companies collect by visiting doctor’s offices. Besides, the data is not comprehensive enough due to the sample size.
The data pool will also help drug manufacturers target a market with a particular drug instead of investing in the entire population as a target. It will also help the companies to invest in compounds likely to succeed in clinical trials and have better return on investments in clinical R&Ds.
He also said that Netmeds.com — being an online company — has the ability to collect scores of comprehensive and precise data as six million people visit the site every month. The company,which accepts over 20,000 orders every day, has a team of 30 data entry professionals who digitise hand-written prescriptions and about 60 pharma professionals check that data manually, besides a strong AI-driven process.
Pandit, with a team of 80 engineers, testers and developers, has introduced AI/Machine Learning to bring innovation across the platform. The team works on fraud detection, preventing customers over ordering or buying without prescriptions, optimising delivery, product catalogue and customer profiling.
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