Cipla may raise bar with digital therapeutics push

ET INTELLIGENCE GROUP: Cipla could once again be at the forefront of disruption in the pharma sector. In the early 2000s, it was the company that made AIDS drug affordable for the global South and established the reputation of Indian generic pharma industry for providing efficacious and affordable drugs.
The company has taken early steps to brace itself for a paradigm shift in the role of drug companies, from pill makers to care givers and therapeutic service providers. The new role of a pharma company is being envisioned as one encompassing disease awareness, disease management and patient care, with pills being just one part of its healthcare service.

Most Indian pharma companies are now tweaking their business models, strategies, product portfolio, product mix and market presence to better face the industry headwinds and changing market dynamics. Among them, Cipla is the first to have taken this non-traditional and all-encompassing approach of investing in digital therapeutics.

To this end, the company acquired a 12% stake in Mumbai-based Wellthy Therapeutics in February this year. It is engaged in providing digital therapeutic services to simplify the disease management of patients of cardiovascular disorders. The partnership will enable Cipla to offer a combination of prescription drugs and artificial intelligence-powered digital therapies.

Later in April, it picked a 30% stake in South African firm Brandmed that has developed an integrated real-time monitoring model to address chronic diseases.

The traditional Indian pharma market is undergoing several disruptions — right from rising penetration of diagnostic services and online pharmacies to AIbased medical devices. This is likely to impact the way pharma companies have been doing business. Their business model is going to become more digitised and change from being doctorcentric to more patient-centric. From integrated manufacturing, the pharma industry may steadily move to integrated healthcare offerings that cover awareness, diagnosis, treatment and adherence.

Cipla is taking very early steps in exploring such a role. It has carved out a niche in respiratory treatments. Management of such ailments through digital therapeutics could potentially become the company’s forte. Investors in the sector need to watch out for such a trend shift since if Cipla becomes successful, it could stand out from its peers in the industry at a time when differentiators are few.