RLS to start pathology labs-Reliance Life Sciences Pathology Labs
RLS or Reliance Life Sciences, the biotechnology subsidiary of RIL, Reliance Industry Limited, tie-ups with pathology labs in India.
India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani is now eyeing on a share of your diagnostics budget. Similar to the entry of Reliance Jio in the telecom industry, this move can potentially shake up the diagnostics sector.
The promoter group of RIL, the Ambani family controls the RLS. Through partnerships with local entrepreneurs, RLS is planning to start pathology labs across India.
The first person, who received a partnership proposal from RLS said, ” RLS is trying to build a network of pathology laboratories. To start off, they have decided to set up around 20-30 laboratories. The revenue sharing ratio they are looking at is a 15:85 ratio with 15% being RLS’s share. The franchise would take up the cost of building the labs and on a net sales basis, the revenue sharing will be done.”
In September 2016, massive disruption in the mobile telecom industry with low-cost data plans and tariff came with the entry of a RIL subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. This resulted in only three private telcos left, the merged
entity of Vodafone and Idea, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Bharti Airtel.According to the RLS website, the company is said to be developing business opportunities in pharmaceuticals (later-generation, oncology generics), molecular medicine, clinical research services, bio-therapeutics (plasma proteins, biosimilars, and novel proteins), and regenerative medicine (stem cell therapies).
For its pathology business, the company plans to follow a hub-and-spoke model, where a regional hub will provide super-specialized tests in a reference lab. A chain of network labs will provide specialized as well as routine tests, supporting the reference lab. And there will be collection points and centers which will assist the network labs by collecting tests and sending them for processing in the network labs.
The second person cited, “RLA had approached many members in this industry to set up these labs and partner with them. RLS sells this as a low investment-high return entrepreneurial joint venture. RLS, to bring in additional business, will also collaborate with pathology labs, local collection centers, hospitals, and doctors.
In the life sciences domain, RLS has the latest and modern facilities. In Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, it has the Dhirubhai Ambani Life Sciences Centre (DALC), its flagship facility.
With in-house capabilities and facilities in pre-clinical and clinical development, research development, marketing, commercial-scale manufacturing, and quality management, RLS is an integrated life science industry member.
RLS views the pathology segment as a profitable opportunity as health insurance coverage is about to grow, as India’s prevalence of lifestyle disorders and its aging population increases.
In India, there is a huge demand for high-quality medical care according to a 2018 report on health insurance by Ernst & Young. This leads to growth in private participation.
In terms of training and hiring the right talent, admin support and IT support, RLS would provide human resource support to franchise partners. The first person said, ” RLS will provide three officials to partner franchisees- one accounts-cum-materials staff, one IT-cum-logistics official, and one pathologist. These would be on RLS rolls but the cost would be paid by the franchisee.
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