A Hong Kong-based start-up has developed a medication dispensing and tracking software that allows pharmacies to predict when patients will require medications and help patients take their medications safely and on time.
Incubated in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and Cyberport, PharmCare was born from Founder Au Yan Ting’s own experiences in caring for a chronically ill family member and dealing with multiple medications, often with different styles of labelling and dosage instructions.
Mr Au saw a gap in the market for a drug management system compliant with local regulations and launched the first version of PharmCare in 2020.
The PharmCare software allows pharmacies to comprehensively manage a patient’s dispensing records through calculating how much medication the patient has taken so far and estimating when the patient will need to get a new prescription filled. At the same time, the system can cross-reference against the pharmacy’s existing drug inventory to ensure availability and prevent drugs from expiring on the shelf.
Mr Au said that pharmacies in many countries and regions still use individual drug ordering and inventory systems, making it difficult to track and recall drugs, when there are safety or quality problems.
PharmCare’s drug inventory management function has records for more than 23,000 drugs, covering the Hong Kong SAR Government’s registered medications database, which enables quick tracking of drugs when required.
As such, the PharmCare software changes the way pharmacies manage medications bringing numerous benefits across traceability, efficient dispensing and, ultimately, patient care.
In Mr Au’s view, the software is most beneficial in helping community pharmacies better manage their patients’ dispensing records and have drugs available for patients, when they are needed. The aim is for patients to pick up their medications at times convenient for them knowing that stock will be available.
In the long run, this will improve the dispensing services of community pharmacies and reduce the dependence of patients on public hospital pharmacies.
Early last year, the company spun off an AI-powered mobile app for patients and their carers to manage medication scheduling and reduce misuse. After uploading pictures of medication labels to the app, users will receive a clear printable label featuring easy-to-understand icons within 3-5 seconds. Users can print out the newly generated drug labels or save them in their phones to share with family members. The app also provides a text-to-speech function, which is particularly convenient for patients taking multiple medications.
At present, the PharmCare app provides medication labels in Chinese, English and Bahasa Indonesia, with plans to launch Nepali and Urdu versions. Ethnic minority users can access medication knowledge and training on how to use the app in conjunction with district health centres.
Currently, 11 community pharmacies in Hong Kong are using the PharmCare software under a flexible monthly subscription model. As the system uses an API (application programming interface), it can easily be connected to existing systems used by different pharmacies.
The company plans to expand its service to other pharmacies and introduce AI Chabot functionality, as it continually develops more services and functions to meet the needs of patients and pharmacies.
The company has won numerous awards for its innovation, including being named as one of the 10 winners of the HKTDC’s Start-Up Express 2024 cohort. It also received the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association's Asia Smart App Merit Award and Silver Prize for Healthtech in the Communications Association of Hong Kong Annual Awards.
With an eye on exports, the company sees ASEAN as a large market with a middle-class that is increasingly health conscious.
“We are planning to expand into Singapore and Malaysia, where there is a similar cultural and demographic profile to Hong Kong and where there is a demand for drug labelling in different languages. However, the policies and drug databases in Southeast Asia are different to Hong Kong, so we will need to make adjustments accordingly.”
