Two brothers, Omri and Rotem, were sitting in the lobby of a hospital, in front of the emergency room. They were waiting for their father, a diabetic patient who, while taking his every day dose, had accidentally injected a second dose of insulin, to get better. Fortunately, he was fine. But, both the brothers, after spending the day in that lobby, wondered how it was possible that there was no tool to help people manage their medications and prevent mistakes like not remembering to take their meds or double dosing. After researching over this, they realized that no such solution was available and therefore, set out to create one. That is when Medisafe was born. Medisafe is the brain-child of the brothers- Omri Shor, the CEO and Co-founder, and Rotem Shor, the CTO and Co-founder of the company.
Medisafe is a fast-moving patient engagement business that has created easy-to-use, personalized technology to help people manage their health better. It provides a state-of-the-art medication adherence platform to its users. Talking about the company, Omri says, “Medisafe helps people manage their medications easily and effectively. We provide our pharma partners with insights into patient behavior and ways to engage with their patients.”
Medisafe is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with its major operation center in Haifa, Israel. When incepted in 2012, the founders’ dad was Medisafe’s app’s first user, and today, it has over 4.5 million users in 150 countries.
Commitment to Saving Lives
Realizing that almost 125,000 people die each year in the U.S. as a result of not taking their prescribed medications properly, Medisafe is committed to changing this scenario for better. With its medication adherence app, Medisafe has been improving adherence significantly.
Another severe problem that Medisafe addresses is that of dangerous drug interactions (DDI). Recent estimates indicate that DDIs cause nearly 74,000 emergency room visits and 195,000 hospitalizations each year in the USA alone. Since its introduction a year ago, Medisafe’s drug interaction feature has warned patients of more than 100,000 potentially dangerous drug interactions.
A ‘Client-First’ Company
Always a client-first company, Medisafe has ensured to offer patients and its customers the best. A testimony to this is the app’s 4.6 rating, out of 5, on the app stores. Many reviewers have talked about their stories – of how Medisafe has saved their lives, or how it has dramatically improved their quality of life by making medication management much simpler.
On the business side, the company offers its pharma partners a way to gain a much better understanding of the behavior of their patients, and a way to engage with them and improve adherence. Addressing the benefits this provides, a prominent client of Medisafe- Leif Moll, Head of General Medicine Strategy & Portfolio Expansion, at the biopharma business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, said: “With Medisafe, we would like to help patients with chronic conditions to better organize their medication, therefore improve adherence to their regimen and ultimately achieve the best possible treatment outcomes.”
Outshining its Peers
Medisafe’s success puts it on a different level from competing medication management platform solutions, as with 4.5 million registered users it is by far the leading platform. The ease of use and intuitive interface, the fact that the company has addressed all therapeutic areas, unique features like Medfriend, and the drug interaction checker – all make Medisafe uniquely effective. Its large and highly engaged user base makes it particularly attractive to pharma partners, as the company can provide insights into much larger groups of patients.
Life at Medisafe
At Medisafe, ownership is a central value. Everyone who works at Medisafe has to take ownership of projects and overcome new challenges, every day. The biggest opportunity that working at Medisafe provides is to improve people’s quality of life, and even save lives. The company gets amazing feedback every day with people sharing incredible stories, and it has made it a habit that the entire team sees these as a major motivation for everyone. Medisafe also provides individual support for employee development. “Ideal leadership is inspiring and visionary, driving the team to greater successes, while giving them the freedom to pursue their creativity and initiatives,” asserts the CEO.
Future Endeavors
Over a third of older adults in the U.S. regularly use 5 or more medications or supplements. Over 100 million people who, if they used a medication reminder and drug interaction checker – would be healthier and safer, and the global number is many times higher. Driven by the same goal, Medisafe wants to reach not 4.5 million users, but 450 million users, and it is confident that this is achievable. Shor asserts, “We strive for a future in which people no longer die or are hospitalized because of medication mistakes, and we believe Medisafe can help make it happen.”
