For those with rare and life-threatening diseases, it’s absolutely crucial that medication can be accessed as easily as possible. But unfortunately, since ordering these specialty drugs is not currently automated, the system is highly inefficient and problematic. That’s what ZappRx seeks to address with its online platform, which enables physicians, pharmacists and patients to collaborate better, eliminating unnecessary hassles and improving transparency while reducing potential errors. And now, the startup has just raised $5.6 million in Series A financing.
The round was led by SR One, the venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline, with participation from Atlas Venture. Jeremy Levin, former CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical, is also joining the board of ZappRx. In a news release, SR One Managing Partner Jens Eckstein noted that the firm is continually seeking out IT solutions that “address major pain points for pharma,” and that SR One strongly believes ZappRx is capable of alleviating some of these issues.
In addition to the new funding, ZappRX has also announced a partnership with Zafgen, a biopharmaceutical company, to help automate the prescription management process for patients affected by two specific conditions: Prader-Willi syndrome and hypothalamic injury-associated obesity. In an email interview, founder and CEO Zoe Barry explained that this is because Zafgen makes a specialty drug called Beloranib — and by working with ZappRx, the firm will be making it far easier and faster for both for the doctor and the patient to order that medication as well as refill prescriptions.
To date, ZappRx has raised a total of $8.8 million — and both SR One and Atlas Venture are existing investors, having contributed to ZappRx’s seed funding in 2013.
“The main goal with this new round of funding is to hire more talented people, so that we can execute on customer contracts and optimize key strategic partnerships,” Barry told me. “We've already done a ton of hiring in the last year — the tech team is now 50 percent ex-Google, and ZappRx is overall 50 percent women, which we are very proud of.”
In the coming months, the company will be announcing additional partnerships with specialty pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies.
Photo courtesy of ZappRx.
