It is estimated that around 2 billion people, especially in low- and middle-income countries, do not have access to quality and affordable essential medicines. The situation is exacerbated by low-quality, even deadly, counterfeit drugs filling the void. This deficit means that illnesses that would otherwise be treatable or preventable end up causing distress and even death.
That’s the problem B2B marketplace Axmed is looking to solve by tackling supply chain fragmentation, and the startup recently raised $2 million in seed funding from Founderful Ventures to fuel its plans.
Focused on low- and middle-income countries, Axmed is building a marketplace that aims to connect manufacturers with healthcare facilities to address inefficiencies that lead to shortages, high costs and the proliferation of counterfeit medicines. The startup wants to achieve this by aggregating demand, allowing buyers to source drugs directly from manufacturers at a lower cost and moving away from traditional pharmaceutical supply chains that have multiple layers of resellers and distributors. To trade in the market, sellers and buyers would have to meet multiple regulatory and legal criteria.
The startup’s initial target markets include Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda, where it intends to enter through faith-based institutions, non-governmental organizations, healthcare providers government-led and procurement agencies.
Based in Switzerland, Axmed is currently working with partners to fully validate the initial version of its product, ahead of a full launch later this year. This 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 aimed to leverage the aggregation model to build purchasing power and create an attractive market opportunity for the manufacturers. He added that such models have been used in the past during emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but such procurement initiatives never exceed their original mandate or diminish once emergencies subside.
“We wanted to build something that would stick and really become a long-term sustainable operation that would focus on empowering buyers and patients, making them more attractive to high-quality manufacturers and for them (manufacturers) to access to these markets much more quickly. more efficient and transparent way,” he said.
Additionally, the platform is designed to provide visibility into the size or real potential of these markets. Akpakwu says most local, regional or global manufacturers need to understand the size of the market and how they can effectively engage in these regions.
Akpakwu was previously chief commercial officer for Novartis’ Sub-Saharan Africa region. It was during this mission that he was confronted with the challenges and obstacles that prevent or deter manufacturers from expanding into new markets. Axmed was then designed to consolidate orders and create an attractive market for manufacturers.
Axmed joins the growing list of platforms such as Africa Medicines Supply Platform and pharmacies and institutions such as hospitals.
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