Comments
Mankind Pharma will market DrOnA, or an app to bring doctors closer to their patients. The move makes Mankind Pharma the latest drug-maker to partner with a company, Appify that has a digital footprint.
It works like a “virtual clinic” and will help a doctor communicate with regular patients, besides getting access to the latest scientific journals etc, explains Chanakya Juneja, part of Mankind Pharma’s promoter family.
The best part of the app is that a person can pay on the app and fix up an appointment for an older member in the family to have a tele-consultation, he told BusinessLine , adding that Mankind Pharma had no other involvement or investment with the app or data being generated by the app. Maintaining that the app was to streamline activities for doctors, he said, a doctor was also free to uninstall the app and take all the data with him or her.
Related Stories
Mankind Pharma, Daewoong Pharma to undertake early stage trial on Niclosamide for Covid-19
Rajeev Juneja, Mankind Pharma’s Chief Executive Officer and Chanakya’s father, said that facility would also help with repeat consults, after an initial face-to-face consult in a post-Covid world.
The move comes even as the Centre plans for a digital health footprint across the country to streamline doctor-patient interactions, among other things. The digital future is also fuelling mega buyouts in the online sale of medicines, even as concerns are being raised on the sanctity of the patient’s data. Interestingly, healthcare companies like Roche Diabetes Care have digital plans for a doctor platform later this year, while Abbott had announced a “neutral” digital initiative for doctors and consumers, last year.
Preparing for Covid challenges
Meanwhile, the senior Juneja said, the company expected to end the current year with a turnover of about ₹6,400-odd crore (compared to ₹5,900 crore last year). The company is presently undertaking trials for Niclosamide, from South Korean firm Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, used in the treatment of Covid-19.
Looking back, he said, the company had understood that something was amiss in February and stocked up on inventory, before the national lockdown. Presently stocks are in place or the entire year, he added.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.