Exclusive: InpharmD seeds $6M for on-demand drug info
Why it matters: Hospitals face pressing challenges accessing reliable drug information amid staffing problems and rising drug costs.
Details:The round was led by 645 Ventures.
- Other participants include Atlanta Ventures, Y Combinator, Qlarant
Capital and SF ELC.
How it works: Atlanta-based InpharmD leverages artificial intelligence and
pharmacists' expertise to grant physicians on-demand information about
various drugs.
- InpharmD has curated a database of 30 million clinical studies and uses a
blend of large-language models (self-made, plus open-source) to search
and summarize relevant literature.
- It suggests data-driven therapeutic interchanges and protocols designed to
reduce patient hospital stays.
Of note: Reinforcement learning is done by clinical pharmacists to ensure
accuracy and efficiency for search and summaries and to improve the
algorithm for future searches.
What's next: Against the backdrop of a difficult fundraising landscape,
InpharmD wants to make this fundraise "last indefinitely, as if this is our last
round of funding," Advani says.
- The company is profitable and Advani says, "We don't plan to burn too
much more cash."
- InpharmD currently has 18 health systems on its waitlist and hopes to
start converting those systems to customers with the proceeds from this
fundraise, Advani says.
The big picture: The U.S. health care system spent $603 billion on
prescription drugs in 2021, before accounting for rebates — $421 billion of
which was on retail drugs, per the U.S. Department of Human Health and
Services.
- Non-federal hospitals spend $41 billion on retail drugs in 2021.
What they're saying: "Health systems are strapped and looking for ways to
cut costs," says Advani. "We can help them do that."
- "InpharmD has a extremely impressive proprietary data set and the pilot conversions are exceeding any benchmarks in the industry," says Jon Smith, VP at 645 Ventures.
Read Axios publication here.
Share