MedPlus betting big on generic medicine sales

Our own brand of off-patented medicines received overwhelming response from customers. They already account for 15 per cent of total sales at the stores where we are selling them. We expect this to go up to 40-50 per cent of our total sales - Gangadi Madhukar Reddy, MD and CEO, MedPlus

City-based pharmacy retail chain MedPlus Health Services Ltd is betting big on generic medicines as it expects 40-50 per cent of its total sales coming from this segment.

Established in 2006 and now the leading player in pharmacy retail sales across seven States with 4000 outlets, MedPlus recently launched its own private label of off-patented medicines with attractive discounts ranging from 50 to 80 per cent. Currently, it is selling these medicines only in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana. Sales across rest of its 4,000 stores will commence from September 1. The pharmacy retail chain is also gearing up to expand its own generics range from 500 drugs now to 800, eventually increasing to 1,000 drugs.

“Our own brand of off-patented medicines received overwhelming response from customers. They already account for 15 per cent of total sales at the stores where we are selling them. We expect this to eventually go up to 40-50 per cent of our total sales,” Gangadi Madhukar Reddy, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MedPlus, told Bizz Buzz. The company is also planning to manufacture some of its private label medicines in a year or so.

According to him, MedPlus will set up 800 new stores in this current financial year. It will invest Rs 240 crore on this network expansion. The company will also enter three new States including Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Going forward, MedPlus will accelerate its network expansion as it intends to emerge as a leading national player in pharmacy retail space.

Like in pharmacy retail, MedPlus launched a disruptive model in the diagnostics space as well. Under this, it offers huge discounts for its subscribers. “Diagnostics is a small part of our business now. We invested Rs 100 crore on this. Our diagnostics services are currently available in Hyderabad only. We will go to other cities once we achieve a scale in this city,” Reddy said.

The company is eyeing 30 per cent upswing in revenues in the current financial year. The new stores are expected to drive this revenue growth. Last fiscal, it clocked around Rs 4,500 crore. In FY24, its revenues will be in the range of Rs 5,700-6,000 crore.