An Illinois startup wants you to never set foot in the pharmacy again.
DivvyDose, a 2-year-old startup based in Rock Island, is a full-service pharmacy delivery company that aims to make getting and taking your medication easier. Customers get their prescriptions delivered to their door monthly, and pills come in individual packs that are marked with dates and times so people don't miss a dose or take too many by accident.
DivvyDose also sends a complete list of a person's medications and dosages, and there's a label on each delivery box that gives directions on how to take each pill. The goal, founder Arvind Movva said, is to make taking your medications as simple as possible, and keep someone from wondering if they are taking the right thing.
"The biggest factor to keeping people healthy is to take their medicine regularly," said Movva, who's also a practicing physician. In fact, a study out of the University of Arkansas found that half of US adults aren't taking their medicine when they're supposed to, leading to between $100 billion and $300 billion in excess medical costs.
Along with the convenience factor of delivery and the added organization of the individual pill packs, Movva says there's another benefit DivvyDose provides compared to Walgreen and CVS: no buying unnecessary or unhealthy items at the drug store. On a walk to the pharmacy counter, a customer will pass cigarettes, soda, candy, alcohol and other things that are harmful to one's health and often work in direct opposition to the medicine they're getting in the first place, Movva said.
"Our interest is to make sure you get everything you need, and nothing that you don’t," he said.
DivvyDose works with your insurance provider and doesn't charge delivery fees or membership costs, Movva said. The startup also offers automatic refills and lets customers manage their prescriptions from the DivvyDose app. Movva said DivvyDose has been growing quickly and it's seen a 40% increase in users month over months last two months.
DivvyDose isn't the only player working to disrupt brick-and-mortar pharmacies. Massachusetts-based PillPack has raised nearly $100 million since it launched in 2014. Similar to DivvyDose, PillPack delivers medication in individual packages and provides detailed information so pills are taken on time. Startups Capsule and Round Refill also deliver medication, and have sensors that work with an app to mark when you've taken a dose.
But as more tech startups venture in to the pharmacy delivery space, the real competition is still the pharmacy giants.
"We think of our competitors as anyone who’s giving you medication in brown bottles," Movva said.
Image courtesy of DivvyDose
