My wife is a Pharmacist dual licensed in Mass and NH and in love with this idea. She's going to get in touch but if someone from PillPack is on here let me know. You'll get a career startup software developer as an addon ;).
Very nice. This will help many people. My mom has done home healthcare (as an RN) and always says the most common problem is the ability for folks to get the correct meds at the correct doses at the correct time without help.
Combining with some drones (Amazon or otherwise) and sensors could make some interesting scenarios for more time sensitive and ephemeral med needs...
PillPack developer here: I'm imagining our office in complete chaos as we test delivery drones. Excuse me as I head over to YouTube to watch quadrotor videos :)
I've been getting Xyrem from a central pharmacy for a while now and it's awesome that I can call one day and have my medicine arrive the next day via FedEx. Being able to get all medications with the same convenience as Amazon Prime is awesome. If this doesn't get hit with any regulatory issues, I can totally see Amazon knocking on their door one day and making an acquisition offer.
We'll still need pharmacies for immediate medical needs that can't wait a day, but for everything else this is great.
I now just wish ordering wines and spirits online wasn't fraud with regulatory hurdles paying local retail at BevMo is a lot less attractive than being able to get your favorite bottle of small batch bourbon delivered to your front-door.
That's nice. Here in Sweden, this is a standard way of delivering medications to those who need it pre-sorted for easier delivery. It also has environmental benefits, since the waste can be reduced.
It's called "ApoDos" (which is just a portmonteau of the "apotek" which means pharmacy, and "dos" which means "dose"), here's a web page from Sweden's largest pharmacy: http://www.apoteketfarmaci.se/Tjanster/Service.aspx?UniqueId.... It's in Swedish but there's a picture of the delivery bags used, tney come on a roll in a plastic case.
Yup - the packaging component has proliferated in a handful of countries, the US (obviously) not being one of them. In fact we imported a piece of quality control machinery from the Netherlands where this packaging is much more commonplace.
So Express Scripts ($100B in annual sales) is going to get taken out by unit dose packaging? WalMart's pharmacy is also testing blister packs + multi-dose...I don't see how this displaces ESI...
I like it but, if there was an FAQ, I'd sure like it better. Too many unanswered questions to bother though. Which meds? What states? What's the cost of the meds? etc
My hypothetical for solving this problem was some huge contraption that would electronically spit out the right pills when required. Pill Pack is so much more elegant. Can't wait to see them succeed!
The 20 year is actual delivery within your body: take a pill once and it gradually releases the correct amount at the correct time with an option to flush it out of your system as well.
Like the contraceptive implant? Without know a thing about drug delivery, it seems like it'd be pretty feasible already. There's probably a reason it's not done for more drugs, but I can't think of a good one. Perhaps the fear of someone pulling out 6 months worth of drug X from their arm, and selling/abusing it?
"Mail order" seems like the tip of the iceberg of what these guys could do. I shouldn't have to use a pharmacy for my prescriptions or the supplements/vitamins I take.
Exactly. At first, it seems simple, but a lot of complexity behind the curtain and huge potential. Pharma and pharma distribution is a massive industry and provided they're able to scale and prove the model, they could go on to do a lot of other really interesting things.
love the comparison to apple & the notion that a design-forward brand (in this case, software enabling easy purchase of important consumer goods) can help tackle a traditionally archaic and bureaucratic space. super excited to see how things progress.
hoopism|12 years ago
Really cool stuff.
threejay|12 years ago
gz5|12 years ago
Combining with some drones (Amazon or otherwise) and sensors could make some interesting scenarios for more time sensitive and ephemeral med needs...
jordancsmith|12 years ago
malandrew|12 years ago
We'll still need pharmacies for immediate medical needs that can't wait a day, but for everything else this is great.
I now just wish ordering wines and spirits online wasn't fraud with regulatory hurdles paying local retail at BevMo is a lot less attractive than being able to get your favorite bottle of small batch bourbon delivered to your front-door.
unwind|12 years ago
It's called "ApoDos" (which is just a portmonteau of the "apotek" which means pharmacy, and "dos" which means "dose"), here's a web page from Sweden's largest pharmacy: http://www.apoteketfarmaci.se/Tjanster/Service.aspx?UniqueId.... It's in Swedish but there's a picture of the delivery bags used, tney come on a roll in a plastic case.
threejay|12 years ago
arosenbaum|12 years ago
refurb|12 years ago
My guess is that they'll get bought out if it takes off. Other pharmacies will copy the process.
unknown|12 years ago
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ScottWhigham|12 years ago
threejay|12 years ago
owenfi|12 years ago
rokhayakebe|12 years ago
The 20 year is actual delivery within your body: take a pill once and it gradually releases the correct amount at the correct time with an option to flush it out of your system as well.
stickydink|12 years ago
maroun|12 years ago
Love the design as well.
ckurdziel|12 years ago
frenchman_in_ny|12 years ago
Love the concept (spouse is a pharmacist, comes with the territory I guess).
jcap49|12 years ago