A woman who's been called 'Doogie Howser' is building the pharmacy of the future, and it's like Uber for drugs
May 18, 2016, 02:12 IST
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Sonia Patel, a former pharmacy manager for Sam's Club and Eric Kinariwala, a former Bain Capital analyst, want to reimagine the experience.
On Tuesday morning, the pair launched Capsule, a startup that wants you to never visit a physical pharmacy, like Walgreens or CVS, again.
Instead, Capsule will deliver your pills to your home or office for you, kind of like hailing an Uber. Here's how it works.
- When your doctor asks which pharmacy you use, simply say "Capsule" instead of "CVS" or whichever other local pharmacy you visit.
- Unlike CVS, which has multiple locations and sells lots of things, Capsule only has one store per city, which you can choose to visit or not.
- Inside the Capsule's store, which it calls the hub, there are full-time pharmacists who fulfill orders and full-time couriers who deliver to your preferred address. Currently, Capsule only has a hub in New York City, on west 25th Street, but it delivers to all of New York City with the exception of Staten Island. Other cities will be launching soon.
- On Capsule's app, your insurance information automatically populates, or you can snap a photo of your insurance card if for some reason your information doesn't pop up.
- You can read information about your prescription - including how much it costs and how many doses to take - on the app. Then you can put the pills in your shopping cart and choose a delivery date, time, and address.
- If you have any questions, you can chat with a pharmacist on the app 24/7. Otherwise, your medicine will show up on your doorstep when you want it, within a two-hour window.
Capsule has been quietly working in stealth mode since last September, when Patel and Kinariwala formed the company and moved into the location on West 25th street.
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