PharmaTrust MedCentres Labelled as Game-Changing Technology by CNN

OAKVILLE, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PharmaTrust MedCentres were dubbed this weekend as an industry-changing technology by CNN’s editorial producer Nadia Bilchik in her segment on stories happening overseas. The segment, which aired on Sunday, August 22^nd, explained that the MedCentres would impact the pharmacy industry in a similar way that ATM machines changed the banking world.

“Our early customers, partners and ourselves have recognized the innovative nature of this technology, and its potential impact on the pharmacy industry for years, so we’re pleased to see it finally receiving global recognition.”

“We are excited that CNN took the time to dig deep and understand the differences that make our technology a game-changer” said Peter Suma, CEO of PharmaTrust. “Our early customers, partners and ourselves have recognized the innovative nature of this technology, and its potential impact on the pharmacy industry for years, so we’re pleased to see it finally receiving global recognition.”

The PharmaTrust MedCentres use advanced robotics, scanning and video-conference technology to connect individuals to a pharmacist in another location, take a digital scan of a prescription and then count out or select the appropriate medication and release it to the patient, a process which is controlled remotely by the pharmacist at the other end of the video conference.

PharmaTrust, which is an Oakville-based company, has been successfully operating MedCentres in select Ontario locations since 2007. They have an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently opened an office in the UK and are set to announce the opening of their Chicago office and Kansas based data centre shortly.

“What we are seeing is a global trend of increased need for access to pharmacy services in markets under increasing fiscal pressures,” said Suma. “The PharmaTrust MedCentres create cost efficiencies, broaden the reach of existing pharmacy services and make accessing those services a more convenient, more streamlined process.”

With the MedCentre robotic technology taking care of the more technical aspects of the dispensing of prescription medication within the remote location pharmacists are able to spend more time counselling patients, a health service which has become increasingly valuable as it becomes more difficult to access other medical professionals.

“At PharmaTrust we are exploring many ways that this technology could be adapted to support increased access to quality health care services globally,” Suma said. “This is truly just the beginning of where the MedCentre technology could take us, so we weren’t surprised to hear it labelled as an industry game-changer by international media.”

The CNN segment on the PharmaTrust MedCentres can be found online at http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/08/22/pharmacies.in.a.box.cnn?iref=allsearch.