Pharmacy App Development: How to Build Next-Gen Digital Solutions for Pharmaceutical Applications

Introduction and Overview

The era of instant gratification is upon us. Thus, like most other industries, the healthcare sector is evolving at a fascinating pace to embrace this transition. Furthermore, the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 led many healthcare organizations to opt for a suitable pharmacy app development company to build digital solutions for them. According to Statista, the global pharmaceutical market size is expected to reach US$1,431 billion by 2027.

This exponential growth of the pharmaceutical industry has accelerated the process of efficient drug discovery and development, thereby providing high-quality healthcare solutions to customers. Another study by Statista suggests, that as of the second quarter of 2022, Google Play consists of 54,306 medical and pharmaceutical apps on its platform. Similarly, the number of medical and healthcare apps on the Apple app store stands at 52,406 by the second quarter of 2022.

Data Bridge Market Research reports that the use of the web-based electronic health records (EHR) market will grow up to US$53.22 billion by the year 2029. Statista also elaborates that the global telemedicine solution market is expected to be valued at $460 billion by 2030. Hence, Healthcare facilities and organizations are inclined to invest in web app development for pharmaceutical industry.

Essentially, having a clear understanding of the processes and regulations of the application or software development in the pharmaceutical industry enables companies to come up with cutting-edge pharmaceutical apps that meet business objectives. In this blog, we will elaborate on all the crucial aspects associated with pharmacy app development and how it benefits both customers and service providers.

Discussion On An Array of Pharma & Biopharma Solutions and Applications

In the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, there’s an intense focus on efficiency and productivity. Every step of drug discovery, development, and quality control requires perfect execution. Carrying out these processes accurately helps get the products to market quicker. There are many online pharmacy app development solutions and applications that integrate the analytical workflow to automate the steps of drug development processes. Here’s a brief discussion on these solutions-

Pharmaceutical Small Molecules

Small Molecules are organic compounds with low molecular weight. These components help with the formulation of various drugs. These small molecule drugs require oral administration, and they can pass through cell membranes to reach intracellular targets. With the help of impactful pharmaceutical molecule application solutions, it’s possible to accurately follow the workflow and develop life-saving drugs.

Protein Therapeutics Application

The use of protein therapeutic and its variants such as monoclonal antibodies, fusion, and recombinant proteins in drug development involves complexities and challenges. However, the implementation of advanced solutions simplifies the entire process of drug formulation with protein therapeutics. These solutions streamline protein quantitation, protein aggregation, and charge variant analysis through complete and efficient workflows.

Synthetic Oligonucleotides Therapeutics

These types of therapeutics include small interfering RNAs and antisense oligonucleotides and require deeper analysis to maintain quality and purity. The use of advanced drug development solutions will allow the successful integration of this component while developing various drugs.

Gene Therapeutics and Delivery

Gene therapy is a prevalent form of treatment that involves the modification or replacement of genes to treat diseases. The implementation of advanced technologies in gene therapy allows precise gene editing and characterization of genes.

Benefits of Pharmacy App Development

The proliferation of smart healthcare technologies enables pharmacy app development companies to provide services and products that simplify healthcare requirements. This is where the need for developing efficient pharmacy applications comes into play. The digital revolution in healthcare was already becoming a phenomenon alongside traditional methods but the Covid-19 pandemic fueled the need for further digitalization. On that note, here are the benefits of developing pharma apps that are worth considering.

1. Amplifies Time-efficiency Online pharma applications help streamline communication by connecting patients directly with their trusted pharmacists and/or doctors. These software and solutions empower patients to share crucial details (in the form of documents or images) through the app inbox. The applications automate many of the manual and repetitive functions. For instance, automated record-keeping processes for patients ultimately minimize expenses.
2. Strengthens Client Experience Client convenience is one of the major driving forces behind the development of efficient pharmaceutical apps. For example, the apps empower patients to order prescription refills through the internet from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, many pharmacy apps allow users to manage the prescriptions of all family members from a single account. This feature enables users to keep track of order history, medication dosages, and dates.
3.  Improved Patient Retention and Engagement Having a pharmacy app ensures ample opportunities for businesses to build a strong connection with the users. These apps present pertinent ways to increase interaction with customers through emails, push notifications, and reminders for re-orders. The customer data gathered from these apps help with presenting more successful marketing and product development strategies. These web or mobile apps also enhance client engagement and multiply the revenue stream.

Process To Build Applications for Digital Pharma Products

Developing a scalable and efficient pharmaceutical application involves multiple stages. Here’s a step-by-step pharma developer’s guide to building web or mobile applications efficiently.

Complete Market Analysis

An efficient application development process involves a thorough market analysis. This stage covers multiple other steps such as identifying the market size, understanding the challenges in the process of development, and learning about competitors.

Stringent Monetization Strategy and Business Model

After a successful evaluation of the pharmaceutical app market ecosystem, drawing up a scalable business model for the application is essential. Additionally, it’s pivotal to have complete clarity about the features to incorporate into the app which will meet all requirements based on the business model you choose. 

Determining the App Functionalities and Features

The process of deciding the relevant functionalities for the app calls for a specific business model and monetization strategy. The app may include basic features in the initial stage of the development process. It’s crucial to communicate with the pharmacy app developers and choose the functionalities wisely to avoid cluttering the app with unnecessary elements. 

Test and Launch the Application

It’s vital to test every aspect of the pharma app, right from the user experience and interface to content. Effective testing and quality assurance process will help reduce the development time and cost, fix bugs, and uphold the reputation of the service provider. Once the testing phase concludes effectively, it’s time to make it available to the users. 

Plan For Ongoing Development and Support

The continuous emphasis on support and maintenance is en after the app’s release in the market. After the development, the plans for the next app version must be in place to ensure a stellar user experience.

Prevalent Types Of Pharmaceutical Applications In the Market

The development of pharma apps or software can be based on a variety of objectives and purposes. These pharmaceutical solutions can be used by drug manufacturers, raw material suppliers of the pharma industry, other than pharmacies, and healthcare organizations. Presented below are some of the different types of pharmacy apps that exist in the market.

Pharmaceutical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Applications

The process of drug manufacturing is complex. Pharmaceutical ERP systems allow companies to maintain perfect visibility of their workflows and data streams. Such systems are used to automate routine tasks, streamline data sharing across different departments and teams, and help analyze the existing data. For instance, BatchMaster ERP enables drug manufacturing companies to efficiently track and document the complete manufacturing process, from the supply of raw material to the finished product.

Apps For Pharmacy Store Chains

Large pharmacy distributors and retailers need to focus on the effective management of trade activities and supply chains. Not all large ERP systems can fulfill the specific needs of separate staff members and operations. The utilization of customized apps for pharmacy store chains mitigates the possible limitations in specific functionalities of the large ERP systems. These apps may include inventory-tracking systems and in-app portals for trade representatives and delivery partners.

Pharmacy Management System

These applications or web-based software aim to automate and simplify pharmacy workflows and enhance patient health outcomes. Pharmacy management systems allow pharmacists to control their inventories, review orders conveniently, automate billing and detect inconsistencies.

Pharmacy management systems can also be integrated with a hospital’s Electronic Health Records systems. This enables pharmacists to access patient health records together with physicians, and offer appropriate recommendations depending on a patient’s allergies and medication history.

Compliances To Abide By Pharmaceutical App Development

Legal compliances are an integral and unavoidable part of pharma app development. Since healthcare is a rather regulated industry, service providers must be acquainted with and adhere to the rules outlined by the Government. The following are some of the pharmaceutical compliance regulations that software application development companies must abide by.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Apps built for the United States market that record, process, and store Protected Health Information (PHI) are required to comply with the HIPAA regulations. Implemented in 1996, these regulations have protected the confidentiality and integrity of all electronically protected health information.

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Act (HITECH)

The Obama administration implemented this Act in 2009. The primary purpose of this Act is to encourage healthcare organizations to use Electronic Health Records (EHR). The Act enforces the HIPAA compliance and includes non-compliance penalties.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

This Act safeguards the privacy and data of California residents, and it requires companies to notify the users about the data they collect and delete the data upon the user’s request.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR is focused on protecting the personal data of EU citizens and ensuring data privacy. Apart from enforcing adequate security measures to prevent data breaches, companies are required to inform people about the specific information they hold and the objective behind holding those details.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology presents several guidelines to assist federal agencies to meet compliance requirements. Even though the recommendations by NIST are not compulsory, they emphasize security best practices across various industries and are largely supported by the Government.

Conclusion

In an era when customers demand instant gratification, the industry players in the healthcare sector cannot ignore customers’ convenience. This has propelled them to reach out to pharmacy app development companies to develop sophisticated apps for web and mobile devices. Developing these cutting-edge mobile and web apps enables service providers to simplify various healthcare facilities for their customers.

Building these robust applications has resulted in many beneficial outcomes both for the manufacturers and customers. As newer developments continue to enrich the pharma industry, it’s also vital that companies pay attention to various pharma compliance to provide a memorable experience to the users.

Searching for a technology partner to develop sophisticated pharmacy apps? Unified Infotech with its proven expertise in full-cycle application development services will provide you with scalable solutions. Our continuous assistance will help automate repetitive processes and ensure a smooth experience for customers.