In this week’s Daybreak Special episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose speak to The Ken’s Shivani Verma about her investigation into Pharmeasy’s dubious business practices.

The once IPO-bound company is under the scanner for its ‘unethical’ ways of upselling alternative medicines and supplements. Everyone – from Pharmeasy’s own pharmacists, to the doctors who call behalf of the company to validate a customer’s prescription – are under pressure to sell these supplements.

The saga began with Pharmeasy’s 2021 acquisition of Bengaluru-based e-pharmacy Medlife, where former executives noted a similar trend of upselling alternatives and supplements. This comes amid ballooning losses and immense pressure from investors to show profitability.

So what’s the deal? Why is Pharmeasy going down this route?

Tune in to find out.

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

P.S. Daybreak episodes drop daily now 🙂