At present, The Medicine Shoppe has ten shops in Mumbai and is planning to set up a network of 57 franchisees in western India by the end of the current year.

According to the The Medicine Shoppe International director (international operations) John Dexheimer: "Community pharmacy has become a buzzword in the Indian pharmaceutical circles, but not many people are certain on the role of a community pharmacy. They are unique in a way that they focus on health care service for the customers. Medicine Shoppe pharmacies stock and sell a complete range of prescription medicines and health related front end products."At the moment, there are only a few companies in this trade in the country.

"We are optimistic to build a 1,000 strong franchisee network in India within a few years. In the future, Medicine Shoppe International will be able to provide an insight into the operations and working of HMOs (health management organisation) and disease state management programmes," said The Medicine Shoppe India managing director Viraj Gandhi.

According to Mr Dexheimer, "every month at least two new programmes are added to the list of our facilities. Our effective marketing programmes will help in the development of new pharmacy services and search for ways to drive down the costs with the healthcare systems."

A typical Medicine Shoppe outlet, besides conducting routine dispensing activities, offers a gamut of services like maintenance of patient history, facilitating patient compliance, health screening for families, feedback to the doctors etc. Medicine Shoppe India aims at offering a complete healthcare pharmacy delivery package, coupled with quality medication, personalised service, professionalism and overall value in a pharmacy experience. "It may be called an amalgamation of physician, pharmacist and patient where everyone gets benefited," sums up Mr Dexheimer.