Prescribing and taking medication is a significant piece of the healthcare puzzle. Each year, on average, nearly 2.5
million New Zealanders are prescribed subsidised medicine. Despite being common, people who take multiple medicines to
manage long-term conditions often face a frustrating road. When it’s time to collect their prescription, they wait in
line at their pharmacy amongst unwell people who may be contagious, and risk being overheard when they have deeply
personal conversations with a pharmacist. At home, they either painstakingly sort and count their meds, or face the
dangers of taking the wrong dose. Some get overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and decide to “skip the orange ones”. Only
to realise that, five weeks later, their repeats have expired again.
Former community pharmacist and rest-home nurse, Jack Lee and Suzanne Burge, are all too familiar with these
frustrations. So, in January 2020, they launched PillDrop, New Zealand’s first fully digital pharmacy licensed by the
Ministry of Health. PillDrop manages the end-to-end pharmacy experience which includes delivering medicines direct to
people’s homes. Within the first four months of operating, they secured government funding, contracts with multiple
DHBs, and became a critical part of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response. During the lockdown alone, PillDrop couriered
hundreds of contactless parcels to homes throughout New Zealand. Each delivery contains a month’s supply of the
household’s medication, pre-sorted and pre-packaged into rolls of personalised PillSachets.
These PillSachets, Suzanne says, remove the hassle of managing multiple medications, whether you are a patient or
caregiver. Your medicines arrive already sorted by date, time, name and dosage. This means patients and caregivers can
safely and confidently move on from manual tasks like handling multiple medicine bottles or packs, counting and sorting
each pill, or visiting their pharmacy. Each month, clients simply put their roll of PillSachets in their own attractive
PillDrop box and tear off the individual sachets when required - putting an end to expired pills, indiscreet packaging
and disorganised medicine cabinets. Before the month’s supply is out, if you have a repeat, PillDrop automatically posts
it to you.
In short, PillSachets are: "the easiest and most convenient solution for people who are constantly managing their own
multiple medications or managing prescriptions on behalf of their loved ones.” Suzanne says.About PillDrop
PillDrop provides a fully digital pharmacy experience which includes medicine dispensing, home delivery of your
prescription and non-prescription medication, a secure online portal of your medicine history and countdown of remaining
dosages, automatic delivery of your repeats, and access to 24/7 pharmacy support. They offer same-day delivery to
Auckland and next business day delivery for the rest of the country. Their service is free if you are over 65 or taking
multiple medications. Visit https://pilldrop.co.nz/ for more information.