It is estimated that around two billion people, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, lack access to quality, affordable essential medicines. The situation is exacerbated by substandard or even deadly counterfeit drugs that fill the gap. This deficiency causes illnesses that would otherwise be treatable or preventable to ultimately lead to suffering and even death.
This is the problem that B2B marketplace Axmed is looking to solve by tackling supply chain fragmentation, and the startup recently secured $2 million in seed funding from Founderful Ventures to advance its plans.
Focusing on low- and middle-income countries, Axmed is building a marketplace aimed at connecting manufacturers with healthcare organizations to address the inefficiencies that lead to shortages, high costs and the proliferation of counterfeit medicines. The startup aims to achieve this by concentrating demand and enabling buyers to purchase medicines directly from manufacturers at lower costs, breaking away from traditional pharmaceutical supply chains with multiple tiers of dealers and distributors. In order to trade on the marketplace, both sellers and buyers would have to meet several regulatory and legal criteria.
The startup’s initial target markets include Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda, where it aims to gain a foothold through religious institutions, non-governmental organizations, government-run healthcare providers and procurement agencies.
Axmed is headquartered in Switzerland and is currently working with partners to have the first version of its product fully tested before its full launch later this year. The new funding follows a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make maternal and child health care available in high-priority countries.
Emmanuel Akpakwu (CEO), who co-founded the startup with Felix Ohnmacht and Sofia Radley-Searle, told TechCrunch that they want to use the aggregation model to increase buyer power and create an attractive market opportunity for manufacturers. He added that such models have been used in the past during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but such procurement initiatives either never go beyond their original scope or fade away once emergencies subside.
“We wanted to build something that would endure and truly become a sustainable, long-term business focused on empowering buyers and patients and making them more attractive to quality manufacturers and to them.” [makers] “We can tap into these markets much more effectively and seamlessly,” he said.
In addition, the platform is intended to provide insight into the size or actual potential of these markets. According to Akpakwu, most local, regional or global manufacturers need to understand market sizes and how to engage effectively in these regions.
Previously, Akpakwu served as Chief Commercial Officer of Novartis’ Sub-Saharan Africa region. During this time, he faced the challenges and obstacles that prevent or prevent manufacturers from entering new markets. Axmed was designed to pool orders and create an attractive market for manufacturers.
Axmed joins the growing list of platforms such as Africa Medicines Supply Platform and Xs2Meds, as well as health technology companies such as Drugstoc and Remedial Health, that are digitizing the pharmaceutical supply chain and solving procurement and distribution challenges for pharmacies and institutions such as hospitals.