DALLAS, TX – The pandemic has meant an expansion of home delivery services, and now local startup CourMed is offering vaccine delivery for those who would like to be jabbed at home.
CourMed launched as a pharmaceutical delivery company, partnering with independent pharmacies to bring prescription medications, premium vitamins, and supplements, as well as eyewear and some natural medicines into DFW’s homes. The pandemic helped grow the company as the desire for home delivery became an issue of safety and convenience. The organization has now partnered with pharmaceutical giant McKesson and received investments from Google and Microsoft, accelerating their growth in the market. The company grew its revenue by 300 percent between 2019 and 2020, even before the pandemic accelerated growth further.
Now, the company is offering COVID-19 vaccine delivery to those who are interested. Rather than non-professional delivery drivers, CourMed is sending medical professionals into the home to administer vaccines. Patients use the CourMed app to request a vaccine. CourMed coordinates with independent community pharmacies close to the requester’s address and other provider companies to have a vaccine delivered by someone qualified to administer it. “We have been able to provide new revenue for community pharmacies if you were not a customer of that community pharmacy at that time,” “says CEO and Founder Derick Miles. “We are bringing community pharmacies, new patients, by offering concierge delivery.”
Vaccine delivery is also being provided to local senior citizens by the City of Dallas through a partnership with Meals of Wheels and Dallas Fire-Rescue. However, they had to switch away from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine during delivery. The service can help reach vulnerable residents who cannot travel or live too far from a vaccine site.
The company has also established a relationship with Children’s Health with a pilot program to deliver medications prescribed through Children’s Health’s school telehealth program. If a Children’s provider prescribes a drug during the telehealth appointment, CourMed can have that medication delivered to the student’s home.
The company is looking to expand volume by working with other hospitals and partnered with Medical City and HCA in North Texas to deliver medicine through their Hospital to Home program. “Now that the hospitals are coming on board, our hope is that hospitals do what they always do, which is pile on,” Miles says, whose prior experience is in hospital administration. He has more than 15 years of experience in some of the country’s largest medical centers. “Once one company sticks its toe in the water and tries out the innovation, others say, ‘OK, you’ve done it with them before?’ It should reduce the sales cycle significantly for us.”
Looking ahead, the company sees itself offering a variety of at-home medical care, including IV infusions, vitamins, and even monoclonal antibodies used to treat COVID-19 for those who already have it. They hope to grow other local partnerships with Catalyst Health Network to provide delivery for Catalyst’s patients. Arizona, Florida, and California are all expansion areas as well, once all the relationships are established with providers and pharmacies.
The startup has bootstrapped its financing without receiving significant outside investment but hopes to raise funds and continue the explosive growth beyond the pandemic. “We grow as fast as the money is available,” Miles says. We have quite a bit of demand, and we think that in the next 30 to 45 days, those monies will be in the bank, and you’ll see a lot more growth.”
