M3 Buys Healthcare Professional Network DailyRounds

Japan-based healthcare professional web portal M3 has acquired a majority stake in Neuroglia Health, which owns DailyRounds, a community-based platform for doctors and medical students in India. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2013 by Deepu Sebin, Nimmi Cherian and Priyaank Choubey, DailyRounds provides access to India's largest academic network of doctors, through which more than 300,000 professionals from all over the world share and discuss clinical cases. With the acquisition, M3 says it will expand its capabilities for marketing support and marketing research for pharmaceutical companies, while launching new services in and from India.

M3 operates the m3.com portal for medical professionals, delivering healthcare related information to 270,000+ physician members in Japan. Its existing business in India is Health Impetus, a joint venture with healthcare services provider Health Care at Home India. Known as M3 India, the JV runs online portals that help Indian doctors keep in touch with the latest in research, medical news, evidence-based medicine, practice guidelines and expert articles.

M3 India CEO Amit Singh says the deal allows the company to escalate its marketing support and MR businesses to pharmaceutical and medical devices companies through the expansion of doctor membership and enhancement of medical education content.

Web sites: www.m3.com and www.dailyrounds.org .