Friday, June 26, 2009

A prescription for convenience

From the Globe and Mail:
Shortly after being named Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-term Care last summer, David Caplan was getting a routine eye exam at Toronto's Sunnybrook hospital when his wife, who works there as a nurse, asked him to look at a new drug-dispensing device.

“After my appointment, my wife said, ‘You've got to come check this out,' and she showed me the machine that was in place,” he said. “I thought it was a fantastic idea – it's new technology that a variety of companies could develop and support and it's a really innovative way of improving patient care.”

In a matter of minutes, Mr. Caplan's wife, Leigh, had accomplished what years of lobbying the Ontario government couldn't.

The machine that Mr. Caplan is referring to is the brainchild of an Oakville, Ont.-based startup called PCA Services Inc.

While its executives bristle at this description, their innovation, which they call PharmaTrust, is akin to a high-tech vending machine (more closely resembling an ABM) for pharmaceutical drugs. ...more

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