RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – OrbitalRX, the Winston-Salem-based software-as-a-service startup that aims to provide software to pharmacy leaders that can proactively manage drug supplies, has received a seed investment of $150,000 from The Launch Place.
The company built an “intuitive data-unifying platform” that hospitals can deploy to efficiently respond to supply chain threats and protect patients from harm, reads the mission statement for the company found on their website.
“The situational awareness around inventory and supply chain is important for every health system,” said Adam Orsborn, co-founder and CEO of OrbitalRX. “What’s key is for a drug shortage management system to work the way hospital pharmacy departments actually work today.”
Drug Shortage Management Platform | OrbitalRX
The drug shortage management platform presents a workflow solution compatible with hospital pharmacies in the United States and in Canada, and collaborates with IBM Watson Health.
The investment from The Launch Place, which holds office locations in RTP and in Danville, VA, comes from their Seed Fund II and marks the 23rd investment for the venture-development organization that focuses on innovative, high-growth startups in the fields of IT, medical devices, green technology, and manufacturing.
According to Orsborn, roughly 95 percent of the potential market for the company’s SaaS product still uses spreadsheets to manage drug inventories, which consumes hours of a pharmacy’s staffing time each week.
“The goal of OrbitalRX software is to automate the process of managing and ordering critical medication,” reads a press statement shared with WRAL TechWire. “It can simplify the process of making decisions on what to buy and maintain stock of medications needed for surgeries, diabetes, cancer patients, and other critical needs within hospitals.”
The SaaS platform is already in use at The University of Virginia, which was the first of six hospital organizations nationally that have implemented the company’s platform into their operations, and Orsborn says that the company has considered branching into the retail pharmacy space and is looking into a potential pilot program.
The company believes that their product is coming at a critical time in the health care industry, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact hospital capacity and workloads, including some that are struggling under the pressure of staff shortages and budget cuts.
“We believe we can do more things collaboratively, and with more transparency, that will help stabilize the national health system, make your health system site the best it can be, and do that in a way that results in a better, more sustainable supply chain,” said Nate Peaty, co-founder and Chief Product Officer. “We want to shape how pharmacy automation tools are built and raise the bar of what they’re capable of.”
The company topped the list of Welp Magazine’s Top Industrial Automation Companies in North Carolina for 2021, and is co-located, and also lists an office location with Raleigh Founded in Raleigh, NC.
