Capsule app looks to take lines, hassle out of prescriptions

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A bad case of the flu and a long wait for a Z-pack at a chain pharmacy inspired Eric Kinariwala's to launch Capsule, a New York-based start up that digitizes the pharmacy experience and gets rid of the hassles.

"Everything from waiting on line to medication being out of stock to not being able to access a pharmacist," he said. "We have systematically built technology to solve all those problems to make it a better experience for everyone who takes medication."

Already, doctors in New York must e-prescribe their prescriptions to pharmacies, and Capsule allows you to order or reorder that medication online through its app. You'll see pricing ahead of time, and Capsule will even advise about available coupons.

And if you have a question, you can always ask the pharmacist via the app, chat, email, text or over the phone. That component was particularly important to co-founder Sonia Patel, who is also a pharmacist.

"Pharmacists go to school for a very long time, and they go to school to be able to help people," she said. "And at traditional retail, they're not allowed to use their skills effectively. They're usually underpinned by being highly understaffed or are put under financial pressures by upper management."

During their research, Kinariwala and Dr. Patel found that typical wait time at pharmacies is 40 minutes. But with Capsule, you can place your order and have your medicine within two hours in any city borough by a fully-insured full-time employee who even receives HIPAA training.

The cost of delivery is free, which is something most drug stores do not offer. But it is all part of Capsule's business model.

"What we've done is instead of having lots and lots of stores at every street corner, we've invested that in being able to offer free delivery, a licensed team of pharmacists and great technology, to make that process easy for you and your doctor," Kinariwala said.

Capsule even follows up with a text or email to make sure you're taking your medicine as prescribed.