Startups, Pharma

ZappRx closes $25M Series B in bid to ease onerous specialty drug prescription processing

Qiming US Healthcare Fund led the Series B. GV (formerly Google Ventures) also invested in the company for the first time.

Pills lined up in rows

ZappRx, a healthcare startup that developed a technology platform to speed up the time-consuming process of processing specialty drug prescriptions, has closed a $25 million Series B round, according to a company news release. The goal of the new funding is to add sales and marketing muscle to build up its customer base, ZappRx Founder and CEO Zoë Barry said in a phone interview.

Qiming US Healthcare Fund led the Series B. GV (formerly Google Ventures) also invested in the company for the first time. SR One, GlaxoSmithKline’s venture arm, which previously invested in the Series A round, also participated in the latest funding. That investment marked SR One’s first in the health IT startup space.

The Boston-based company’s first disease platform is pulmonary arterial hypertension. It represents a significant solution for patients who face a wait of up to eight weeks for each of the drugs that are added as the disease progresses. The patient population is very high risk, observed Barry. The average patient with this condition can only go a couple of days without their medication and they often make 39 hospital visits per year. The business plans to add more specialty areas including rheumatology, neurology, oncology and gastroenterology to its platform in the future.

ZappRx has a communication platform with electronic authorization, diagnostic lab results, and more intelligent form fields to make it easier to fill out the lengthy risk evaluation and mitigation strategy or REMS documentation. Barry claimed the company’s approach reduces the time it takes to process these complex prescriptions from several weeks to several days.

In addition to reducing the work of providers, pharmacists and payers, the business also sees a way to leverage its technology to provide the biopharma sector with data that could offer new insights into the diseases.

Since its Series A in 2014, ZappRx has integrated its platform with electronic medical records. It has also been steadily adding pharma experts to its board and adding academic medical centers and multi-specialty practices. One technology partner it has added is PokitDok.

By making it easier and faster to process these orders and communicate with patients and coordinate order fulfillment, ZappRx seeks to reduce patient frustration and increase the likelihood of patients picking up their medication.

The specialty drug market is projected to grow to $400 billion by 2020, according to the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization. The market opportunity is sizeable, and not just for ZappRx. It is one of a group of businesses that have sought to reduce the headache of processing drug prescriptions.

Somerville, Massachusetts-based PillPack is an online pharmacy that developed a way to simplify orders with automation and package medication by the time and date they should be taken with an emphasis on customers taking multiple medications.

RxRevu in Denver, Colorado developed a clinical decision support tool for electronic health records that brings together patient data, claims, formularies, cost and clinical protocols to make more informed decisions about prescribing medication.

New York-based Capsule offers an app for customers to order their medication which is delivered by a bicycle courier to New York City locations. It also handles communication with insurers and physicians for refills and informs users before they order a prescription what it costs.

Zipdrug is a variation on the approach to improve pharmacy support but claims to lower co-pays through partnerships with insurers and employers and improved medication adherence.

Photo: Martin Barraud, Getty Images 

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