Alto Pharmacy

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CTW.1122.Alto Pharmacy

Getting prescription drugs to patients may seem like a simple, straightforward task, but in the U.S. the process involves multiple parties (doctors, insurers, pharmacies, et cetera), a lot of behind-the-scenes coordination (authorizations, rebates, price checks), and often, even in 2022, use of a fax machine. The costs of this complexity include people not getting the meds they need (prescription adherence rates are estimated at just 50%). After Alto’s founders bought a San Francisco pharmacy and experienced the system for themselves, they got started building a tech platform that automates all the backend work and simplifies the process for all involved. Physicians save time using Alto’s free software, and patients get their prescriptions filled at the lowest available price and delivered to their homes. The company’s light footprint—its 13 distribution centers cover one-fifth of the country—means Alto can operate more cheaply than brick-and-mortar pharmacies. The seven-year-old unicorn has already hit $1 billion in revenue for this year, and recently brought in A-list executive Alicia Boler Davis—she formerly ran global fulfillment at Amazon—to scale the business and its mission-driven culture.

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