2. Problem Statement
Key Stats on Medication Adherence in the USA (PhRMA 2011)
o 32 million Americans use three or more medicines daily
o 75% of adults are non-adherent in one or more ways
o The economic impact of non-adherence is estimated to cost
$100 billion annually
Patients simply forget to take medication
People are lost regarding what to take, when and in what doses.
Current solutions are focused on the provider to pharmacy
prescription flow with limited options for patients
3. Solution
A e-prescription platform that automates the prescription
information flow from provider all the way to the patient
Key features
• Prescription flows automatically from provider to
pharmacy to patient's smartphone/tablet
• Includes automatic reminders (for e.g., SMS)
• Includes drug interaction check
• Has medication barcode recognition
4. Potential Customers
1. Patients who currently take or will take medications in
the future
2. Patients who take many different medications on a
regular basis and have no care managers
3. Parents who would like to keep track of all their kids
medications
4. Caregivers who would like to keep track of their
patients' medications
5. Value Proposition
1. Enable the patient to keep track of what medication,
what time and in what doses one should take.
2. Send notifications to remind the patient to take the
medication.
3. Warn patients about potential drug interactions with
other OTC medications they take.
4. Identify drugs from their barcode, which helps patients
with sight-problems.
6. Hypothesis
1. Patients have forgotten at least one dose of the
prescribed medication in the past
2. They think it is important to stick to a schedule
prescribed and will value an automatic reminder if one
was available
3. They are concerned about drug interactions (with other
medications or over the counter medication that they
may be taking) and will value an automatic drug
interaction check
7. Test Methods
Qualitative: Direct interviews with friends and
family to understand if product/service is
valuable
Quantitative: Formal survey with friends,
family and target customers (people with
chronic conditions)
12. Survey Results With Filters
1. People who took medication recently and find the reminder
valuable (4 or 5) among people who took medication recently and
use a smartphone or tablet: 62% (23/37)
2. Percentage of people who find the interaction check valuable (4 or
5) among people who took medication recently and use a
smartphone or tablet: 73% (27/37).
3. Percentage of people who find the reminder for others’ medication
valuable (4 or 5) among people who take care of others and use a
smartphone or tablet: 55% (6/11)
13. Total Available Market Size
We considered two major markets: USA and UK for its size
USA Market UK Market
Total US Total UK
population population
~310 million ~51 million
Prescription drug users Prescription drug users
~149 million ~20 million
Prescription drug users Prescription drug users
with smartphone with smartphone
~57 million ~9 million
Target Available Market Target Available Market
~31-41 million ~5.5-7 million
14. Insights
• Potential Market was significantly limited by
the number of people taking medication that
also use a smartphone and are comfortable
with technology
• Given demographic trends, our potential
market will expand rapidly as technology
savvy users grow older and need more
medication (or take care of people who do)
15. Next Steps
1. Develop platform components
2. Continue to refine customer hypothesis
3. Test other aspects of business canvas
