ICT Group helps start-up make personalised medication more affordable

Patients with chronic conditions often need to take many different medications at the same time or spread over multiple moments a day. The key to successful treatment is taking these combinations correctly. To prevent patients from taking the wrong medication or missing doses, large pharmacies provide personalised medication: they package the correct combinations of medicines together in a medication roll for each patient, sorted by time of intake. This way, patients always know which medications to take and when.

“In the Netherlands, this is done every day for hundreds of thousands of patients,” says the CEO and co-founder of our client. The company, based in the province of North Brabant, builds machines for packaging patient-specific medication combinations. “It sounds simple,” the CEO continues, “but it involves thousands of different medicines in millions of possible combinations. Doing this as error-free and as efficiently as possible is a major challenge.”

The start-up’s customers are pharmaceutical wholesalers and large pharmacies that centrally package personalised medication in blister centres. “This has been done with machines in this way for twenty years, but we have developed a completely new approach to automate the process and ensure quality,” the CEO explains.

Seventy medicine packages per minute

Initially, the development of the machine focused on cost reduction, the CEO explains: “Health insurers do not reimburse medication rolls for everyone. We believe personalised medication should be available to everyone who needs it. That is only feasible if packaging becomes more affordable.”

An additional challenge addressed by the machine is the growing shortage of highly skilled personnel to support the process. The machine integrates all steps into one fully automated system: inspection, packaging, rolling and cutting. “With other machines, inspection is one of the most labour-intensive steps, but in our case this is handled by an intelligent camera system. As a result, our medication packaging machine requires fewer staff, making the process not only more cost-effective but also faster,” he says.

The medication packaging machine is now in operation at multiple locations, with some customers running four or five machines in production. The system measures 2.5 metres in height, 2.5 metres in length and 1.5 metres in depth. At the top, 1,200 containers of medication are loaded. A robotic system brings the cassettes down, where the medication is sorted and inspected, after which the machine produces up to seventy medication packages per minute. “We achieve an accuracy of one error in a million,” the CEO emphasises. “In this sector, we also have to comply with strict regulations. For example, two photos must be taken of every package produced, and these must be stored for five years.”

“We notice that ICT Group is able to respond quickly to our needs. Despite their size, they remain an accessible partner for us as a small organisation. When we have a question, they address it promptly, always through the same trusted points of contact".

Development and architecture

All of the company’s founders have experience in the pharmaceutical automation market. When the company was founded, they looked for a partner for software development and found one in ICT Group. “At the first meeting there was an immediate connection. ICT Group had experience in our industry and was therefore able to quickly provide the expertise we needed,” they say.

A large part of the implementation of the medication packaging machine consists of software. In addition to the control software for the machine, this also includes applications for, among other things, planning batches for different customers of the blister centre. Integrations with customers’ infrastructure are also required. “For example, our machine needs to communicate with the customers ERP system for inventory management,” the CEO explains. “We also process patient information: when a physician prescribes a combination of medications, this data is fed into our system. Naturally, information security plays a crucial role in our software development. In this area as well, we can always rely on ICT Group.”

Initially, the collaboration with ICT Group focused on sourcing. As the start-up grows, new challenges arise, the CEO says: “Our IT architecture needs to be reviewed, and we are also encountering new challenges in terms of networks and infrastructure. We are having discussions with customers about which components to move to the cloud and which to keep on premises. It is reassuring to know that we can also engage ICT Group on these issues. We certainly see opportunities to develop a strategic partnership across all of these areas.”

Accessible partner

Finally, the CEO praises the flexibility of ICT Group: “We notice that ICT Group is able to respond quickly to our needs. Despite their size, they remain an accessible partner for us as a small organisation. When we have a question, they address it promptly, always through the same trusted points of contact. Working together has been pleasant from the very beginning, and we have found in them a reliable partner we can always count on.”