In Nigeria, patients pay two to 64 times of the global reference price for pharmaceutical products, according to the Federal Ministry of Health, largely due to the fragmentation in the supply chain that results in a mismatch between latent demand and actual supply. These frictions cause inefficiency in the system which creates opportunities for counterfeiting and price gouging. Figures by the WHO indicate that more than 120,000 people a year die of fake and substandard malaria and tuberculosis medications in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, up to 15% of medication in circulation are substandard, compromised, or fake. 

Founded in 2015 and based in Lagos, DrugStoc is a technology enabled procurement platform that deploys omni-channels to aggregate orders for medications and small medical devices from hospitals, pharmacies, health maintenance organizations, and clinics and helps fulfil those orders within a period of twenty-four hours. Their solution to the traditional, inefficient process of procuring pharmaceutical products in Nigeria combines cloud-based solutions, data analytics, innovative supply chain processes, financial solutions and an in-depth health care industry knowledge to deliver friction-less access to quality medications in Nigeria. 

The ISO certified DrugStoc Ecosystem is designed to simplify the business processes of its community through: 

• DrugStoc Access: Realtime web and mobile access to over 7,000 healthcare products for DrugStoc healthcare businesses. 
• DrugStoc Pay: An embedded financing solution that meets healthcare businesses and patients at their point of need. 2 million+ USD in transactions since launch. 
• Pilometer: DrugStoc’s proprietary Inventory software solutions with insta-procure solutions for B2B and the ability to plug into the company’s B2B2C. Over 50 facilities have signed up with a waiting list of 200+ healthcare businesses. 

Goldstein Market Intelligence forecasts the African pharmaceuticals market size to reach USD 160.7 billion by 2024 as the African population and pharmaceutical market grows. This shows significant growth prospects for the industry and for DrugStoc to exploit and scale its business in Nigeria and across Africa. The company expanded in Lagos and opened two additional fulfillment centers in Ibadan and Calabar while covering much more cities without a physical location in each city. It has grown its SKU product count to over 7,000 and has some exclusive distributorship deals in the pipeline. By 2024, DrugStoc expects to expand to two African countries. The DrugStoc Ecosystem currently serve about thirty percent of the business value of the businesses that use their platforms. The company intend to scale that figure to 60% by 2025. 

DrugStoc has raised USD 4.4 million as series A funding and is seeking a series B investment round of USD 20 million in debt and equity. The company is also looking for partnerships with strategic multinational in pharmaceutical development, data analysis, supply chain optimization, improvements in operational efficiency through equipment or machine learning/AI/data analysis, tech development etc. 

DrugStoc is a finalist of the EU-UNDP’s Growth Stage Impact Ventures (GSIV) in Nigeria, in the health sector. The GSIV takes the Nigeria SDG Investor Map one step further by identifying through a highly competitive process enterprises in Nigeria that have developed at-scale products and services that contribute to the SDGs while achieving commercial success and are committed to embed impact considerations into decision-making. By putting the spotlight on and supporting these ventures, UNDP aims to bring forward evidence of the existence of pipelines of investable ventures that can advance the transition to SDG-aligned investments in Nigeria and more broadly, in Africa. 

Learn more and get in touch with DrugStoc: www.drugstoc.com