Online pharmacies in India are a step closer to being formally recognised and regulated, with health ministry officials set to meet industry stakeholders on June 10 to finalise the rules governing them, Mint reported. The government released the draft rules as amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act last August (read a copy here), and plans to roll them out in the first 100 days of its second term. Under the draft rules, only government-registered e-portals can sell medicines, and must retain prescriptions and verify details of patients and doctors. How big is India's online pharmacy market? The online pharmacy market in India is valued at about ₹2,000 crore, according to a report by The Hindu. It said that figures from the Union Health Ministry showed that this was less than 0.5% of the retail pharmacy market. Court battles over ‘regulatory grey area’ Despite the draft rules, India’s online pharmacy market operates in a regulatory grey area and has been subject to conflicting court orders. In December, the Delhi High Court had banned the online sale of medicines and directed the Delhi government, among others, to implement the order. The order was passed in response to a petition which argued that the medicines were being sold without regulation, and that the sale of medicines online increased the risk of spurious drugs being sold. The same month, the Madras High Court ordered an interim ban on the sale of medicines by e-pharmacies on a writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Chemists’…
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