Pill.ar is a local startup that could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry by adapting treatments to the specific needs of each patient. With an initial investment of USD 250,000, it aims to supply the domestic market and export.

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Juan Pablo Real and Santiago Palma are pharmacists, PhDs in Chemistry, and researchers at the National University of Córdoba (UNC) and CONICET. For nearly 10 years, they researched ways to improve people’s quality of life through access to personalized medications..

In 2023, they decided to take a global leap. They added Enzo Moriconi, a Social Communication graduate, and Daniel Real, Juan Pablo’s brother and a PhD in Chemical Sciences with a specialization in pharmaceutical technology, nanotechnology, and 3D printing, to the team, and set things in motion.

In a sector dominated by major international players, this team of young professionals from Córdoba identified an opportunity: the pharmaceutical industry is efficient at producing large batches of standardized medications, but the same is not true for personalized medicines.

In other words, pharmacological treatments are not designed for each type of patient and do not fully adapt to their medical needs. Additionally, in Argentina, it is estimated that more than 3.6 million people live with at least one rare or uncommon disease, of whom 23% are expected to receive inadequate treatment.

With this potential market in mind, they created PILL.AR, a platform of innovative solutions that ensures traceability, quality, and safety of medications. It includes software, a 3D printer, and inks that automate the process and produce medicines or vitamins with the same quality standards as those used by the pharmaceutical industry for standardized pharmacological medications.

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Thanks to these printers, patients can also access treatments in an affordable way, tailored to their individual conditions.

Among the more than 3,500 diseases considered rare in our country, which this initiative could help address, are highly prevalent chronic conditions such as migraines, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, among others; as well as rare or orphan diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Chagas disease, and refractory epilepsy, among others.

The initial investment was USD 250,000 and was provided by SF500, an investment fund from Rosario dedicated to creating science-based startups. Its goal is to increase the number of science-based companies in the Latin American ecosystem and to bring Argentine science to the world. For this purpose, it has USD 300 million, of which USD 7 million have already been invested in 19 startups focused on addressing the main global demands regarding human health and the preservation of the planet.

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An ambitious business plan

The project is currently in the validation stage. Trials are conducted in the laboratory of the Pharmaceutical Technology Research and Development Unit (Unitefa, UNC-CONICET), where around two thousand tablets will be produced to validate safety and efficacy in a clinical trial. It is worth noting that the production capacity of the technology designed by the company is 2,880 tablets per day, one every 30 seconds.

The plan for this year is to complete the validation stage and develop a new printer prototype with higher printing capacity and some integrated safety features.

Commercialization will initially target compounding pharmacies and local laboratories, then expand to traditional pharmacies and large chains. Export is also planned; pharmacies in Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, and Spain have expressed interest in acquiring the technology.

“At an international level, there are different regulatory frameworks, and as a startup, we have various strategies that involve different complexities. In this first stage, we aim to enter countries that allow the compounding of medications under the responsibility of the entity selling the drugs. In that case, as a startup, we will be able to sell our printers, software, and inks, automating that process in the pharmacy,” the company explains.

They add: “Our purpose is also to contribute to improving quality of life through the personalization of medication and dosages, to reduce daily pill consumption to the minimum possible. It is estimated that in our country, more than half of people over 50 years old consume more than five medications daily.”