Atlanta-based Impiricus Automates How Doctors Navigate Pharmaceutical Needs

Over 1,800 years ago, Hellenistic philosopher Sexton Empiricus applied science to the study of the human body and changed the course of medicine. 

Moving into 2021, an Atlanta-based team is using artificial intelligence to improve the pharmaceutical world and how doctors best get treatments to patients. 

Founded by CEO Sandy Donaldson and CTO Osama Hashmi MD, Impiricus leverages a blend of AI technology and curated engagement to help doctors find the correct pharmaceutical drugs and other therapies. 

The ATDC-based startup works as a concierge service for doctors looking to navigate relationships with various pharmaceutical companies. As a two-sided marketplace, doctors use the Impirisu platform to access resources and ask questions directly to find and understand potential treatments. In turn, pharmaceutical companies streamline their materials as they get information and resources to doctors.

Traditionally, doctors have had to interact with various pharmaceutical reps to find patient support, educational materials, or other information about the latest pharmaceuticals on the market. “Our AI-enabled concierge solves this by providing a channel and service for doctors to efficiently access resources when it is convenient for them. They send us a request that normally would burden their patient-facing time and we solve it,” Donaldson told Hypepotamus. 

The main differentiator is engagement: while other platforms struggle with engaging doctors, we are seeing exponentially higher engagement than other traditional channels,” added Donaldson.

Impiricus’ engagement has helped physicians navigate the process of finding and completing appropriate paperwork to get new samples. 

According to the team, only 20% of doctors currently interact with the pharmaceutical industry despite the fact that 80% of doctors say they would like to. 

Impiricus is working with two pharmaceutical companies today, with an additional 14 pharmaceutical and boutique biotech companies in discussions to join the platform throughout 2021.  

Impiricus’ founding team brings experience both from the clinical and business side of the pharmaceutical world. Hashmi is a Dermatology Resident at Emory with previous startup experience and Donaldson worked in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries for close to 18 years prior to launching Impiricus.

The team believes the platform will also improve how patients and general consumers interact with the pharmaceutical industry. 

“Doctors need effective, ethical communication to pharma so that they can provide the most impactful healthcare to their patients,” Donaldson told Hypepotamus. “If done right, patients benefit when doctors know about the latest innovations, what drugs are available, and what resources are available to help their patients access and afford medications. The Impiricus platform increases awareness and removes barriers to patients receiving optimal and cost-effective care.” 

Although it only launched a few months ago, Impiricus has already shown profitability and seen increased interest from physicians looking to join the platform. The team is actively raising its first seed round in January 2021.  

Click here to sign up for the Hypepotamus newsletter, and you’ll get two weekly emails covering the tech startup community in the Southeast, with all the latest jobs, news, events, and announcements.