Invatech Health, the Bristol-based specialist software firm revolutionising the pharmacy sector with its pioneering technology, is aiming to do the same for the UK veterinary market.
It is setting up a new distribution service to dispense animal prescriptions issued by vets in collaboration with a second firm, MWI Animal Health. 
After four months of planning and installation, Invatech’s cutting-edge Patient Medication Record (PMR) system Titan – which is already speeding up workflows in pharmacies – has been modified to support the creation of the MWI’s Home Pharmacy Service.
MWI Animal Health, part of AmerisourceBergen and a leading distributor of animal health products, distributes to more than 3,000 vet practices around the UK.
It is one of the largest UK distributors of medicines for the animal market, and it also provides prescribing systems to vets.
The new service will enable veterinary clinics to prescribe medication and have the product shipped directly to the owner’s home or returned to the practice. The system uses a seamless workflow and full integration between prescribing, dispensing and logistics systems.
Since establishing the interface with Titan, MWI Animal Health has secured a number of contracts to scale the operations and expects the central site will dispense over 4m prescriptions a year.
The centralised supply model, a first for animal health, makes MWI a pioneer in this field and confirms Titan’s status as the only pharmacy system to be customised entirely for the veterinary medicine dispensing.
Invatech Health CEO Tariq Muhammad, pictured, said the work with MWI Animal Health marked the first large-scale innovation in the veterinary market and confirmed the versatility and functionality of the cloud-based technology.
“The contract with MWI Animal Health has given us the opportunity to take Titan to new heights,” he said. “It’s teaching us new ways we can leverage our unique processes in new environments.
“The use of PMR systems for the veterinary market has been very light touch until now. Knowing that that we can bring the same level of efficiency and workflow to a new market presents an opportunity to support animal health in the same way that we do for human health.
“It’s been an intense period of work between teams at both companies, but we jointly recognised the opportunity and the importance of what we were doing. I’m very proud of my team for the work that they have done and the partnership we have developed with MWI Animal Health.”
MWI Animal Health commercial director Alan White added: “The Covid pandemic has presented many challenges to veterinary professionals in the UK. Travel restrictions and social distancing measures make it difficult for animal owners to collect the medications and treatments they need from veterinary practices.”
“We are excited to be able to work with Invatech to provide an innovative solution to this problem, where vets can send the medications needed directly to their client. Working in partnership with veterinary practices and Invatech means we can move animal health forward together.”
It is now just over a year since Titan became the first PMR to receive accreditation from the NHS for more than a decade.
Previously, PMR technology in the pharmacy sector had changed very little since the 1990s. The lack of cloud-based systems or use of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) meant that there was not much scope for these types of innovations.
Tariq said the pandemic had further highlighted the incapacity of legacy systems to scale up and adapt to dynamic situations, in many business sectors.
Lockdown has impacted vets just as much as our healthcare system, and it is essential, we strive to improve the quality of services to the animal market,” he added.
“One year on from our launch and Titan is really motoring. We’re revolutionising businesses from across the spectrum, and we’re looking forward to providing further support to this sector.”
