Electronic Health Reporter

Vaica is helping to solve the hundreds of billion dollar, global medication nonadherence problem with digital, medication management and adherence solutions.

Elevator pitch

Vaica helps get people to take their medications as prescribed — pills, liquids, inhalations, injections, etc — with precise patient support that optimizes medication adherence.

Founders’ story

All of Vaica’s founders, including Tomer Gofer, its current CEO, started off in a different company that developed smart cabinets for medication dispensing in hospitals and addressed the medication adherence problem, as well as medication errors in the hospital environment. After a few years they realized that the true and more complex problem is actually at home, when the patient is suddenly left alone and is expected to cope with multiple medications, confusing prescriptions and absolutely no support. From that point they decided to address the bigger problem and find a solution that focuses on making it possible for even the most complex patient to take their medications as prescribed and lead independent lives at home.

Marketing/promotion strategy

Vaica’s distinctive solution includes a software/hardware combination that ensures accessibility to both patient and caregiver, the possibility to customize a product to the requirements of any therapeutic area as well as a particular patient’s needs and real-time notifications sent to select caregivers if a dose is missed in order to empower a relevant, proactive intervention. Vaica’s solutions have been tested at 15-world class medical centers, reporting a 92 percent to 98 percent success rate. Vaica’s solutions are commercially available worldwide.

Market opportunity

Vaica market opportunity focuses on three main segments: pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmacies and Payers.

Pharma revenue loss in the US from medication non adherence is estimated at ~ $637 billion. Specialty drugs are expected to account for 50 percent of all medication spending by 2020, even though specialty drugs make up less than five percent of total script volume.

Specialty pharmacies are a rapidly growing segment. Medication adherence and patient education is right at the core of the specialty pharmacy operation. This new care standard drives specialty pharmacies to provide services beyond the ones that are typically provided at the retail level. In 2014, it was estimated that retail, mail, and specialty pharmacies dispensed about $78 billion in specialty pharmaceuticals in the US.

Different payers such as health plans and self-insured employers, are a main focus for medication adherence technologies due to their will to prevent complications that result from medication non-adherence and come with great cost.

Who are your competitors?

We have competitors, such as different adherence apps or dispensing devices that are available in the market. We compete over similar segments, but none offer a complete end to end solution that includes software, physical devices and customization.

How your company differentiates itself from the competition and what differentiates Vaica?

Unlike the competition, Vaica provides a “complete” end-to-end solution that marries software and hardware. Its cloud-based software seamlessly integrates with any system with an open API. In addition, the solution uses a device with a physical interface so that the patient will have a smart medication dispensing solution that monitors medication extraction and cannot be “snoozed” such as various apps. Secondly, Vaica provides “tailored,” digital, patient medication management and adherence solutions. We study different therapeutic areas and fit the solution to the needs of the patient/caregiver. For example, Vaica’s newest solution, Capsuled, uses a hardware/software combination, compatible with all medication delivery systems that provides visual and audio alerts as well as personalized educational videos and a video chat capability with the caregiver. The solution knows when a dose has been missed and instantly alerts the caregiver who can then proactively respond.

Business model

Vaica has a B2B business model depending on the customer and device type that includes a basic recurring monthly operation fee.

Current needs

We are always looking for potential partners in the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacies and healthcare payers that understand the innovation and long run benefits of using our systems. Like the products we design, we are open minded and are willing to discuss fruitful partnerships.

When founded

2009

Number of full-time employees

10

Headquarters

Tel Aviv, Israel

Click here to see how SimpleMed⁺ for multi-dose medication works.

Click here to see how the new Capsuled for specialty medication works.