How to Start a Pharmaceutical Delivery Business in 2024

There has never been a better time to start a pharmaceutical delivery business. The pharmaceutical delivery market was valued at $1,430 billion dollars in 2020, and it is expected to grow to more than $2,206 billion by 2025. This increase can be attributed in part to government actions taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented many people from purchasing pharmaceuticals in the traditional manner. The demand for pharmaceutical delivery, on the other hand, isn’t going away anytime soon. It can be more convenient, safe, and dependable than visiting pharmacies in person, all of which are important advantages when it comes to one’s health.

We’ll go over everything you need to know about starting your own pharmaceutical delivery company in this article. Continue reading to find out what questions you should ask yourself, how to find your niche, and which laws you should be aware of before starting this business.

What Is the Best Way to Start a Pharmaceutical Delivery Service?

A pharmaceutical delivery service can be broken down into four distinct but critical steps.

1. Knowing Your Market
2. Knowing the Laws and Regulations
3. The Hiring Process
4. Using Route Optimization Software

To figure out how to maximize sales, you must first understand the market. Because the pharmaceutical delivery industry deals with sensitive information and high-priority products, familiarizing yourself with the laws and regulations is essential. Because you’ll need a team of trained, dependable couriers, the hiring process is critical to the success of your business. Last but not least, route planning software is used by every successful pharmaceutical delivery service to get deliveries to where they need to be.

Knowing Your Market

Your business plan will be more effective if you have a better understanding of the market. The first step is to conduct a self-analysis to determine where your company would fit in the market. Knowing your place in the market can assist you in visualizing where you want your company to go and how to get there. You might ask yourself the following questions:

1. How is my pharmaceutical delivery industry doing right now?

How you set up your future plan will be determined by your current situation. Is your pharmaceutical company already operational? Are you looking to expand your delivery options? If you already have a pharmaceutical company up and running, your customers are your existing customers. If you’re starting from scratch, partnering with established pharmacies to gain access to their customer base might be a good idea.

2. To whom would you be delivering pharmaceuticals to? Hospitals or individuals?

Hospital deliveries will be much larger and will require regular refilling, indicating that they will be a repeat customer. When delivering to individuals, on the other hand, the job can become more difficult. The package size will be much smaller and more variable, and the delivery route will be longer and require more frequent stops.

3. Are you just delivering pharmaceuticals only?

Covid-19 has demonstrated that there is a high demand for medical equipment, specifically ventilators, in addition to pharmaceuticals. You might want to think about branching out into these kinds of deliveries as well. Medical equipment delivery, such as oxygen tanks, beds, ventilators, rehab equipment, and other items, will require additional startup costs and driver training, but it could pay off if there is a need for such equipment in your market.

Knowing the Laws and Regulations

Pharmaceutical delivery businesses are governed by laws and regulations that differ greatly by state and region. Here are some questions to consider when it comes to laws and qualifications.

1. Is my delivery driver qualified to delivery pharmaceuticals?

A pharmaceutical courier must have at least a high school diploma and be over the age of 21. They must be able to lift packages weighing between 30-75 pounds and sit for extended periods of time. Additionally, drivers who transport and install medical equipment should be trained to do so safely and accurately.

2. Where will I be able to deliver the pharmaceuticals?

It’s worth noting that deliveries to P.O. boxes are almost always refused because signatures from the recipient are almost always required. Furthermore, the delivery addresses must be identical to the addresses on the medicine. This also means you can’t deliver medication to the client’s friends or family.

3. How do I deal with private data?

Delivering medicine necessitates dealing with sensitive information, which may necessitate having written documentation of the prescriptions filled. The level of documentation required will differ depending on the laws in your area. Private medical information, in most cases, must be stored securely so that not every employee has easy access to it.

4. Where can I find information about my local laws and regulations?

You can use the resources listed below to look up laws and regulations in your area.

• Controlled Substances Transportation (For Canada)
• Code of Federal Regulations (for the United States)
• Pharmaceutical Delivery Specifications and Guidance from the NHS (for the United Kingdom)

The Hiring Process

Finding a qualified FedEx or UPS driver is not the same as finding a good pharmaceutical delivery person. Your employees will need to obtain specific licenses in order to perform this task.

The following are some of the skills required of a medical courier:

1. Understanding of how to set up oxygen equipment
2. Educating patients on how to use the equipment
3. Resetting and cleaning the equipment
4. Configuring the CPAP machines

We recommend using job search websites that filter applicants by credentials to find couriers with these skill sets. On sites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn, you can find qualified drivers for your pharmaceutical delivery company.

Using Route Optimization Software

Now that you’ve learned how to start a medical courier business, it’s time to talk about route optimization. You could work harder than anyone else, but if your routes aren’t optimized, you’ll quickly fall behind.

This is where EasyRoutes enters the picture. EasyRoutes is the most popular route planner for pharmaceutical delivery because it optimizes for the maximum number of customers in the shortest amount of time. Here are some of EasyRoutes’ features that will help you optimize your business while outperforming your competitors.‍

• Direct Integration with your Orders: EasyRoutes is directly integrated with Shopify and your orders. Update an order in EasyRoutes (for example mark an order as delivered) and your orders will be updated instantly within Shopify. Also, this means you do not need to export your orders and import them into your route optimization software. Just open up EasyRoutes and your orders will already be there!
• Multiple Stop Order Optimization: EasyRoutes’ algorithms are capable of organizing the routes’ stops in the most efficient order. In a matter of seconds, this capability can route as many stops as you need.
• Integration with Navigation Apps: EasyRoutes allows you or your driver to quickly send your next stop to their navigation app of choice. Whether it by Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, you can get to your next stop faster using real-time traffic data.

Saving time with EasyRoutes will result in lower mileage costs, happier customers, and a higher number of stops per day, to name a few advantages.

Allow EasyRoutes to show you the way

The pharmaceutical delivery business is booming on all fronts, and you can position yourself as a market leader in your area. Remember to study your market, understand the regulations, hire the right people, and use the best technology to achieve this success. EasyRoutes route planner is the best technology in this field.

Try EasyRoutes for 14 days for free!