A cardio-diabetic range sells differently from almost everything else in a franchise bag. A patient put on metformin with a gliptin, or on telmisartan with a statin, does not stop after five days. He comes back every month, often for years, and the chemist next to the doctor's clinic fills the same prescription again and again. That is why many distributors who already run an acute range add a cardiac and diabetic PCD franchise as their second line.
The other side of it is patience. A doctor will not move a stable patient to a new brand on a whim. You earn each prescription through regular visits, samples and a product that is always on the chemist's shelf. Once it is written, though, it tends to stay written.
What a cardiac and diabetic PCD franchise range should carry
Most companies build this range around four molecule groups. Before you look at any price list, check that the company covers each group with the strengths and combinations doctors in your area actually write.
- Oral antidiabetics: metformin (plain and SR), glimepiride and gliclazide combinations, gliptins such as sitagliptin, vildagliptin and teneligliptin, and their fixed combinations with metformin. Dapagliflozin and other gliflozins, alone and with metformin or a gliptin, are now written widely too.
- Antihypertensives: telmisartan, olmesartan and amlodipine, alone and in combination with hydrochlorothiazide or chlorthalidone, plus metoprolol and cilnidipine for prescribers who prefer them.
- Lipid lowering: atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, alone and with fenofibrate or ezetimibe.
- Antiplatelets and support products: clopidogrel and aspirin combinations, and methylcobalamin-based products that diabetologists often add for neuropathy.
Strength gaps hurt more here than in acute therapy. If the company has telmisartan 40 but not 80, or no telmisartan with amlodipine, the patient's next prescription goes to some other brand and you lose him for months.
Doctors to work and how sales build up
Your core prescribers are general physicians and MD medicine consultants, diabetologists and cardiologists. In a small town, the physician with a busy OPD often writes more chronic prescriptions than the visiting cardiologist who comes twice a week, so start with him. Diabetologists like new combinations and will try a fresh gliptin or gliflozin pairing if you bring samples. Cardiologists are slower to switch and want a company with a steady quality record.
Plan for a slower first two or three months than you would see with antibiotics or cough syrups. Chronic patients are reviewed once a month, so new prescriptions reach the chemist in small numbers at first and then add up as more patients are converted. Keep a simple register of which doctor started which product, and visit the chemists attached to those clinics so stock is never short on the day the patient walks in.
Fresh stock and the terms worth comparing
Chronic patients read expiry dates, and chemists send back short-dated strips fast. Order quantities you can clear within a few months rather than taking a heavy first order for a slightly better rate. Ask the company how much shelf life is usually left on dispatched stock, and get its expiry and breakage return policy in writing.
When you compare companies, put PTR and MRP side by side for the same molecule at the same strength. Then look at the minimum first order, the monopoly area on offer (district or state), dispatch time to your city, credit terms and promotional inputs such as visual aids, product cards, reminder cards and samples. Samples of new combinations matter a lot in this range, because a doctor usually tries a brand on a few patients before writing it widely. Open each company's profile to see its product list and check for the licence-checked badge, which shows the licence details were looked at.
Send your requirement from this page
The companies listed above offer a cardiac and diabetic PCD franchise. Filter them by state or city, open a few profiles and match their product lists against what your doctors prescribe. If you would rather have companies call you, fill in the requirement form on this page. It is free and your number is not published. Write the molecules or groups you need, your district, the first order value you have in mind and when you plan to start. Your requirement goes only to companies that match your range and area.
Related pages: Critical Care PCD Franchise and General Range PCD Franchise. Molecules most listed here: Metformin, Glimepiride, Telmisartan.
