MaaTRx: When a pharmacist entrepreneur builds a novel drug shortage response platform

Professor Mina Tadrous is a renowned pharmacist and researcher. Although entrepreneurship had never been aligned with his research and work, earlier this year, he took a leap of faith and co-founded a software company coming out of his research looking to transform the way we respond to drug shortages around the world. How did this happen?Finding the right problem to solveMina and his team study topics in the cross section of epidemiology, health economics and policy. Within this data-rich domain, drug shortages have emerged as a growing concern. Especially among governments, healthcare professionals, and ultimately patients. This also builds from his experience as a practicing pharmacist dealing with this issue all the time. Professor Tadrous and his graduate student turned co-founder Shanzeh Chaundry recognized an opportunity. Decision makers needed more data and intelligence to better respond to medication shortages. The result of their work is MaaTRx , a platform that offers five software solutions to support a better response all in one single ecosystem. At-RiskRx uses prediction machines to identify which medications are at the highest risk of a shortage. It leverages models developed out of the research at the University of Toronto combining insights from real-world evidence and clinical context. This tool has already been used by Health Canada to inform many of their current policy development.ForumRx goes a step further and offers stakeholders an online platform to communicate. Through this platform, up-to-date information and emerging trends on drug shortages could be shared. SynapseRx leverages AI technology to formulate a plan of action to respond. The MediMatchRx platform offers providers a way to exchange and manage medication inventory to best optimize patient care. Lastly, PulseRx, the latest offering from MaaTRx helps pharmacists navigate shortage reports and set up alerts. These solutions are making an impact. MaaTRx already has customers. Mohawk Medbuy, a Canadian non-for-profit that provides procurement services to hospitals across the country has publicly engaged with the At-RiskRx tool. In addition, MaaTRx’s tools have also been deployed in British Columbia by its Drug Shortages Unit which also leads the national taskforce.Pharmacist to entrepreneurThe problems that Professor Tadrous hopes to solve seem close to home for many pharmacists. National drug shortages are becoming increasingly frequent. In fact, there were more than 3,000 shortages just this year representing a 15% increase from last year. The pharmacist perspective can be an advantage for aspiring founders. Says professor Tadrous: “It was really the core of how I knew to develop solutions for what we needed.”The pharmacist mindset was part of what jumpstarted a winning idea. But there are different approaches to building a solution. At the outset, MaaTRx was spun out of technology that was first developed through academic research. Ironically, entrepreneurship was never the plan. “We developed a solution and were going about it the academic way. We then realized we had something big. It was influencing people but we needed a model to get this to everyone and sustain it. The only viable path was this one.”Professor Tadrous and his team demonstrates the prowess of pharmacist entrepreneurs and the upsides of transforming healthcare expertise into market-viable ideas. Accelerators as a start to growthPharmacists with entrepreneurial aspirations are encouraged to consider accelerators. These programs enrol startup companies to support its growth. MaaTRx, which is also partially owned and supported by the University of Toronto, has participated in multiple accelerators. For example, MaaTRx is part of Lab2Market’s fall launch cohort. As part of the program, Lab2Market provides guidance on fundraising, pitching, and business coaching. The University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) has also accepted MaaTRx as a portfolio company, providing mentorship, community, and entrepreneurship education. MaaTRx is also part of the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) program where the company was featured in Munich, Germany to better connect with the European life sciences ecosystem.These accelerators provide important connections to potential customers, funders, and partners. They are also always looking for great ideas. ConclusionPharmacists have important insights. They understand which problems are the important problems to solve in the healthcare space. Professor Tadrous and his team have not only become experts in the field of drug shortages, they are actively building solutions to address real-world problems. By bringing new ideas into the market, pharmacists can follow these footsteps and build solutions at scale. Peter Zhang, PharmD, MBA is a hospital pharmacist at Southlake Regional Health Centre, a Senior Business Acceleration Partner at ODAIA, and a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy studying clinician entrepreneurship education.