A mobile healthcare company whose app helps consumers expedite prescription refills and delivery has raised $2 million in new funding.
NowRx, which calls itself an on-demand pharmacy and is based in Mountain View, Calif., will use the money to further automate its prescription fulfillment program and develop more analytics for drug utilization review, a process for reviewing, prescribing, dispensing and using medication.
NowRx says it aims to replace the traditional retail pharmacy by providing free, same-day delivery of medications through the convenience of a mobile app and by offering an expedited, one-hour prescription delivery option for a $5 service fee.
One year after its first delivery, NowRx serves more than 3,000 customers near its Silicon Valley base and is growing at 10% each month, says CEO Cary Breese. The company didn’t release dates, but soon plans to serve more of the San Francisco Bay area, expand to other unidentified cities in California and eventually to expand nationally.
To use the NowRx service, customers download the app from Apple or Google and use it to upload photos of their new prescription or renewal order, pay their insurance co-pay, consult with a pharmacist via video chat, and schedule a delivery. NowRX raised its new funding through Seedinvest.com, a crowd funding platform, and individual investors.
Part of the funding will be used to deploy more automated robotics to dispense prescriptions and on logistics technology to provide faster delivery based on current traffic conditions. The company has yet to disclose its revenue or how many users have downloaded the app, but NowRx does expect to return a profit this year, Breese says.
“Our very low fixed overhead costs and small infrastructure footprint allow NowRx to create an innovative blend of ‘offline’ and ‘online’ capabilities in a combination of small storefront and mobile app,” Breese says. “The model is highly scalable.”
NowRx also will use the funding to develop analytics that give physicians and the pharmacist better data on drug utilization, aiming to improve how safely and regularly patients take their medication. “It’s not unusual for me to see about one-third of patients not taking their prescriptions,” says Dr. Moshe Mendelson, an optometrist with Silicon Valley Eye Physicians in Sunnyvale, Calif. “With its reminders and direct delivery to patients, NowRx aids compliance and promotes better health outcomes.”