Tandem Technology to Raise $100 Million for Prescription Automation

HealthTech startup Tandem Technology achieved a valuation of $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported Monday (Jan. 26).

The company, which aims to use artificial intelligence to ease the process of writing and getting prescriptions, is raising $100 million in a funding round, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources.

Tandem’s technology is free to patients and providers and automates the paperwork and phone calls, driving prior authorizations and pharmacy routing, the report said.

Tandem’s backers include venture capital firm Accel, which is leading the round, as well as Thrive Capital and General Catalyst, according to the report. The company has raised $137 million to date.

Tandem eventually wants to work with biopharma companies to develop and launch new drugs more quickly, the report said. The company expects millions of patients to use its services this year.

Tandem’s funding came weeks after an announcement that the state of Utah had launched a regulatory pilot program that lets an AI system renew certain routine prescriptions without a doctor actively approving each refill.

The move is “one of the clearest … yet by a U.S. state to let software execute a clinical decision traditionally reserved for licensed professionals,” PYMNTS reported Jan. 7.

The program applies only to a limited set of maintenance medications and only for patients who meet predefined eligibility criteria.

“Most healthcare AI tools deployed today stop at recommendations, summaries or risk flags,” the report said. “Utah’s model allows software to act inside the clinical workflow, creating a precedent that could influence how states and health systems handle routine care as demand rises faster than the supply of clinicians.”

Meanwhile, AI is playing an increasing role in drug discovery. Alister Campbell, vice president of science and technology at Dotmatics, told PYMNTS in December that in the last 10 years, AI-native biotechnology companies and their partners have brought 75 candidates to clinical trials, with numbers increasing each year.

“AI use in drug discovery comes in many shapes and forms, from drug repurposing to predicting structures of antibodies and proteins,” Campbell said, adding the technology provides “valuable insights into disease biology, druggable targets and biomarkers.”

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.