
PillPack Raises $4M in Bid to Become Top Mail-Order Pharmacy - threejay
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/02/04/pillpack-raises-4m-in-bid-to-become-top-mail-order-pharmacy/
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hoopism
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 ;).

Really cool stuff.

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threejay
Awesome! Founder here - would love to hear from you / her! Shoot me an email
tj at pillpack dot com.

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dzink
Threejay, we met via Skype at one of the advisory sessions you had during
TechStars (I was with one of the VC firms). Great job executing! Let me know
if you need referrals to pharmacists or doctors for any reason (or pharm/med
schools).

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gz5
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...

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jordancsmith
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
:)

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malandrew
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.

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unwind
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...](http://www.apoteketfarmaci.se/Tjanster/Service.aspx?UniqueId=fd2797c6-ad02-4c43-b2c0-34718a7ced3b).
It's in Swedish but there's a picture of the delivery bags used, tney come on
a roll in a plastic case.

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threejay
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.

~~~
hkiely
Many senior care and mail order pharmacies use such machines.

[http://www.thriftywhite.com/Healthy_Pack_Rx.cfm](http://www.thriftywhite.com/Healthy_Pack_Rx.cfm)

[https://medexpack.com/what-is-a-medex-pack/pre-sorted-
indivi...](https://medexpack.com/what-is-a-medex-pack/pre-sorted-individual-
pill-packets/)

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arosenbaum
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...

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refurb
My question is what's to stop the existing mail order pharmacies from doing
the same thing?

My guess is that they'll get bought out if it takes off. Other pharmacies will
copy the process.

~~~
malandrew
I would imagine that the ideal scenario is someone designing completely
automated equipment for dispensing pills, verifying the pill visually via
OpenCV or other computer vision software and packing the pills in a box ready
for delivery. This would do the same for mail-order medication as Kiva did for
Amazon warehouse automation.

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ScottWhigham
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

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threejay
Sorry that's not more apparent to navigate to - there is a list of common
FAQ's here: [https://pillpack.com/support](https://pillpack.com/support).

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owenfi
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!

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rokhayakebe
Pillpack is the 10-15 year plan.

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.

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stickydink
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?

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thetylerhayes
[http://gigaom.com/2013/05/01/company-behind-digital-pill-
wit...](http://gigaom.com/2013/05/01/company-behind-digital-pill-with-
embedded-chip-raises-62-5m/)

[http://www.proteus.com/technology/digital-health-feedback-
sy...](http://www.proteus.com/technology/digital-health-feedback-system/)

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maroun
"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.

Love the design as well.

~~~
ckurdziel
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.

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frenchman_in_ny
How are you guys handling lot numbers of medication dispensed, in case of
recall & whatnot?

Love the concept (spouse is a pharmacist, comes with the territory I guess).

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jcap49
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.

