Are you starting a new medication? Then you often have questions about it. How should you use it? How does it work exactly? What should you pay attention to? In the pharmacy you can't always ask all your questions. Because there is a long queue behind you. Or because you only think about what you wanted to ask when you get home. Pharmi helps you to understand your medication better and use it without mistakes.  

Claudia Rijcken, CEO and founder of Pharmi, tells:

"More than 30% of patients still insufficiently understand how a medicine works, how to use it correctly or what to do in case of unwanted effects. Partly because of this, more than 25,000 people a year unnecessarily end up in hospital in the Netherlands. Pharmi wants to help pharmacists to tackle this problem together. By using the digital opportunities of our time. We call this 'blended care'."

The right information, in the right place and in the right language

Everyone should be able to use Pharmi

Claudia: "Pharmi gives you all the information about your medicine that you are looking for and makes it possible to ask questions to your own pharmacy. Pharmi works in addition to any advice you may have received at the pharmacy. So when you are at home, you can ask your question to your digital pharmacist. In this way you always have your pharmacist at hand if necessary. You can better manage your medication use yourself. This gives better treatment outcomes, but also, for example, less waste."

Pharmi asked LIOF to help with this 

Claudia, as founder, is passionate about Pharmi. In order to develop Pharmi faster, she sought contact with LIOF. "So that we can share the digital pharmacist with many more patients. To achieve this, we need to link Pharmi to all kinds of existing ICT software. For that we need development budget."  

Corona or no corona: good ideas keep growing, fortunately

Ralph Hunnekens, Investment Manager LBDF at LIOF, talked to Pharmi: "Also - or especially - in these current times we like to finance good ideas. Pharmi is certainly an example of this. We therefore helped this promising start-up with a loan from the Limburg Business Development Fund (LBDF)."

Thanks to LIOF, Pharmi is a good example of this.

Pharmi uses the digital opportunities of our time

Pharmi was founded in 2019 and is already showing clear growth. Ralph: "Pharmi is now a platform for on your phone or tablet and in time wants to grow into a full-fledged virtual pharmacist. This is not only a leap forward in the digitalization of pharmacists, but also very relevant socially."

We're going for our ultimate goal

Claudia: "We have formulated important milestones together with LIOF. We are now working hard to achieve them. LBDF's budget makes this possible. For example, we have involved additional experts in Pharmi. They are now developing the technical, scientific and compliance side of the platform. Then our software builders translate this into an upgraded digital pharmacist." 

"With this further development, we may eventually be able to link to all pharmacies or pharmacy systems in the Netherlands. To be able to provide digital pharmaceutical support to every patient. Our ultimate goal. Because then our digital pharmacist will be accessible to all patients in the Netherlands."

As a start-up you are quick and agile ...

Claudia has turned her passion and hobby into her work. Does she have any tips for other start-ups? "In the beginning there are always people who say your innovation will never make it. And they always have a reason for that. Don't let this stop you, but incorporate that feedback into your strategy. It takes a lot of energy and time to get enough people to see the potential of a good innovation. But are you successful? Then you have a good chance that those same critics will become your ambassadors.

... also be your own speedboat!

"As a startup you sometimes feel like a small speedboat trying to do business with a big tanker. Then remember: startups are faster and more agile. And that, especially in coronation times, is an essential skill that many large organizations need."

Want to know more about Pharmi? Visit www.pharmi.info