A company that is using RFID technology to automate the error-prone process of manually taking inventory for drug and operating room supplies has raised $12 million in a Series B round. Kit Check‘s fundraise follows a major expansion of the Rock Health accelerator graduate’s customer base in the past year from 43 to 144.
Last year, Kit Check did a beta test of Anesthesia Check to reduce drug waste in operating rooms by tracking the life cycle of anesthesia doses from the pharmacy to the OR — a program that three hospital systems adopted. This announcement signifies its general release to hospitals.
In an emailed statement, Kit Check Co-founder and CEO Kevin MacDonald said it expects to use the funding to more than double the number of hospital pharmacies its product is used and to expand Anesthesia Check.
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Kaiser Permanente Ventures led the round, which also included Rex Health Ventures, the venture investment arm of Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, North Carolina. Investors that participated in the Series A in 2o13 returned too, including New Leaf Venture Partners, Sands Capital Ventures, Easton Capital Investment Group and LionBird. Dave Schulte, vice president and senior managing director of Kaiser Permanente Ventures, will also join Kit Check’s board.
Last year Congress passed legislation to create a uniform national standard for drug supply-chain security that will cancel out all state e-pedigree initiatives. RFID Journal outlined some of the program details when the bill was passed last year. It will involve encoding most prescription drug products at the smallest salable unit and sealed homogenous case level with a unique product identifier. Serialization provisions designed to identify products are combined with product tracing and verification requirements.
In a phone interview with MedCity News, MacDonald said he sees its own technology complementing what the law is doing. But he added that the bill’s requirements for track and trace aren’t as granular as what his own company is doing. “It won’t inhibit us. They co-exist.”
He added that it plans to add other medications to its track and trace portfolio.
