Halifax-based Health QR, whose mobile app helps people to manage their prescriptions, has received a $250,000 seed investment from Innovacorp, which will help to bring its product to market.
The Health QR app reminds people when to take their drugs, when they should refill, and tells them why the drugs are important. The free app, which can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play, connects securely to participating pharmacies.
The reminder to take medicine is important because non-adherence to prescriptions is a big problem in the pharma and healthcare industries. Half of all patients are said to not complete their prescriptions. Health QR said poor adherence causes a significant number of medication-related hospitalizations and accounts for $100 billion in annual healthcare costs.
"The investment from Innovacorp will take us to the next level," said President and CEO Patricia Ryan in a statement. "We have completed pilot product testing with Compass Pharmacies [of] Halifax, and are actively selling our product to Atlantic Canadian pharmacies. This investment will enable us to follow through with our commercialization plan."
When Health QR held its official launch in November, Ryan said she was taking it through the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Philadelphia, which specializes in health-related IT companies. And she is spending more time in Ontario with the healthcare community surrounding McMaster University in Hamilton.
Health QR is developing new features that will allow prescription customers to track their medication adherence on a dashboard. It is also working on workflow efficiencies to support pharmacies adopting new services.
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The company’s system now interfaces with Kroll Computer Systems’ pharmacy software platform,
which supports about half of Canadian pharmacies and houses all of the sensitive customer prescription
information. Health QR is developing a solution to integrate with other pharmacy software
programs, including McKesson’s PharmaClik Rx. With access to prescription data, Health QR’s technology can relay accurate instructions to prescription customers without requiring them to manually input critical medical directions.
“Health QR is developing marketable medication adherence solutions by collaborating with industry stakeholders and patient groups,” said Gregory Phipps, managing director of investment at Innovacorp. “Health QR is well positioned to help solve what’s arguably the single biggest issue facing the pharmaceutical industry and Innovacorp is excited to support them in their future success."
Disclaimer: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.
