IBM Targets $2bn Pharma, Health Services Mkt

HYDERABAD: IBM is aiming multi-billion dollar health business opportunities in India. The company has plans to tap chances worth $1 billion each in the Indian pharmaceuticals and health service segments over the next 3-4 years. It is eyeing at giving a range of IT solutions for patient record management and creating a vault of information for doctors, patients, nurses and insurers as well. In India, the integration of health information and data security itself constitutes almost 50% of the business opportunity in health services. The company is also working on a different track for developing markets like India where there is a lack of proper networking in the health set up. They are also developing censors, where it will be possible to trace any error while administering dosages to patients. A number of Indian players have approached them for such solutions, with the insurance sector opening up to foreign investments. On the pharmaceuticals front, about 30-40% of the billion-dollar opportunity lies in the clinical trials and contract research space. Another 30% of the pie can be attributed to supply chain management issues.