DrBond. The name tempts one to imagine a dashing man in white coat working wonders on the sick. As it turns out, it is a mobile application from Chennai-based Swaas Systems to connect doctors with their fraternity and with pharmaceutical companies. “DrBond could bring out different images, but it simply means bonding with your fellow doctors and the medical community,” explains a smiling Anand Natraj, Founder and CEO of the seven-year-old company.

With huge data available in the digital age, it is not possible for doctors to know all of the latest drugs available in the market. Lack of patient face-time gives pharmaceutical companies only a few minutes with doctors, which is not enough to convey the capabilities of a new drug.

Natraj says that “DrBond is a solution for all these problems.” The app, launched in December 2015 and available for free, curates medical and pharmaceutical company related news at regular intervals. It enables knowledge sharing with fellow doctors through a discussion forum.

Details with side effects Rather than going through drug manuals that run into hundreds of pages, a drug search utility in the app gives doctors all the details of the drug including the side-effects. Swaas also partners with medical associations such as Oral Pathology Association to manage events and archive the conference content.

Pharmaceutical companies can benefit from this app too as it connect them with doctors. Earlier, medical representatives had to explain about the drug’s utility. But the app helps a doctor familiarise with the drug first before the representative meets the doctor in person, reducing the time and effort required. “We have a feature called Pharma Connect, which enables this functionality,” says Magesh Ragaavan, Director – Operations and Finance. This area will be the major source of revenue for the company. “But we are not monetising the application now as our focus is on building doctor base. Once we reach 1.5 lakh doctors, we will charge pharmaceutical companies a fee on per transaction basis,” Ragaavan added.

15,000 doctors sign up So far 15,000 doctors have signed up for the app and company has already tied-up with 65 pharmaceutical companies through its other product HiDoctor, that helps a medical representative track his progress. The company invested ₹7 crore ($1 million) in DrBond and is looking to raise another ₹20 crore ($3 million) from Fulcrum Ventures. It registered ₹3.5 crore revenue last fiscal and has three profit-making products — HiDoctor, Wide Angle and Kangle.

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