Dr Poket, is a start-up developed in Gdansk which has already joined the Plug & Play incubator in the Silicon Valley. Why is a start-up from Poland going there? First of all, to gain some market shares in the American telemedicine services market.
Dr Poket was founded by a group of six friends from Gdansk; graduates of the Technical University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk. The start-up gained momentum when its app, Dr Poket, was released three years ago. Currently it is used by several thousand users and the app was followed by a website and an electronic drug dispenser, PillBox.
Why the Silicon Valley?
The company wants to take a chance in the American market, where telemedicine services are common. For the founders, the Silicon Valley is the best place to gain the experience necessary to enter the market.
The Plug & Play incubator gives us an opportunity to take part in great workshops, where we can work together with experts and mentors from the greatest technology companies in the world. Much more is happening here than in Europe. Sharing experiences with other companies, no matter local or global, is also of great importance for us. - Sebastian Mul, project manager for the company.
The plan is to attend workshops and meetings during January, 2016. The following two months will be dedicated towards a roadshow in the United States, where the founders from Gdansk will be presenting information about their products to hospitals and clinics.
“Networking with potential business partners and healthcare specialists is our main goal”, says Sebastian. “We would like to get feedback from them and we believe that our products can help them in leading their business. These meetings will help us get our product to the next level.”
What exactly is it?
Dr Poket’s solution provides its users with useful information regarding whether a drug can be taken during pregnancy, with alcoholic beverages, how it affects driving a car and what the possible interactions are with other drugs. The crucial functionalities, however, are medication schedule management and remote care of people taking prescribed drugs. One can imagine a clinic managing medication of several dozen patients through the app.
An important part of the business plan is also the development of PillBox, a medication dispenser, which is currently prototyped.
How does it work?
PillBox beeps when a patient should take a pill and the right dose of medicine is dispensed. All you need to do is to scan a barcode from a drug package and set the doses and time. Up to 128 drugs can be managed through the application.
After a pill is taken, a patient should press a button to confirm it. The confirmation is also delivered to the smartphone of a relative (let’s say, a daughter living 200 miles away) or to medical staff. There are also alerts when pills should be re-supplied. The goal of Dr Poket is to begin mass production of the device soon.
The founders of Dr Poket can travel to the United States thanks to the GO_GLOBAL.PL initiative, run by the National Centre of Research and Development. The amount of the grant is approx. 30 000 USD.
Written by: Izabela Biała, gdansk.pl
Photos: Grzegorz Mehring
