Omnicell Inc Buoyant About Expansions In India, Assessing Healthcare Sector

The $169 million, Omnicell Inc., a NASDAQ listed global major in healthcare technologies, has identified India for its offshore software initiatives in product development, testing and support. The company is assessing the India's healthcare sector for possible installations to improve patient care here. The company is also keen to generate more value out of its team representing the two year old subsidiary, Omnicell India which is gearing up for an increase in head count from 71 to 84 before the year end.

The need to augment human resources at Omnicell India came about after the parent company's confidence in the Indian team's efforts so far. Omnicell Inc. is getting proactive in its interaction with its team here to make the products more robust. It s in the process of building expertise in product recall on a real-time basis which can be dealt by the support team in India, stated Drew.

Omnicell's medical-pharmacy automation solutions and medical surgical supplies are installed at over 1,500 hospitals globally. The products are designed to improve the work-flow at hospitals units. These include medication dispensing systems, central pharmacy storage, controlled substance inventory management solution, decision support application and web based procurement systems which are installed at central pharmacy, nursing, operating room, cath labs and patients bedside.

US is the biggest market for Omnicell followed by the European Union, Australia, Japan and parts of the Asian region. Over 70 per cent of the business comes from existing customers. The company is planning to launch novel technologies to track drugs which will enhance operation of pharmacies in hospitals.

The company has also experimented with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications for a cabinet to store cardiac valves and angioplasty stents. "This would probably be first application in the US to be able track the expensive medical devices," informed Christopher Drew.

(Ref: Chronicle Pharmabiz dated August 16, 2007)