Cutting-edge pharmacy software has received a major boost after a latest round of funding through a Government scheme which backs pioneering tech businesses.

Bristol-based Invatech Health has announced a further £900k award from Innovate UK, under a competitive programme to support game-changing innovations in the UK’s SME community.

The latest round of funding matches the initial loan to Invatech in February 2018 for the development of its revolutionary pharmacy operating system and complements further grant funding during the coronavirus pandemic to support remote working for independent pharmacists.

Now, the completion of the £2.2m total funding marks the start of a new growth phase for Titan and will support rapid development of brand new features for the company’s leading platform.

Since becoming accredited by NHS in late 2019 – the first pharmacy Patient Medication Record (PMR) to do so for 15 years – Titan has already taken two per cent market share, processing over 1.5 million prescriptions per month across numerous customer sites in England and Wales.

The entirely new, innovative, cloud-based solution digitises the end-to-end workflow within pharmacies, makes medicine dispensing safer using barcode technology, helps control business activities and improves the experience for patients and practice owners alike.

Crucially, it aims to free up pharmacists’ time, enabling them to focus on newly-commissioned patient services designed to relieve the burden from under-pressure GPs and the wider NHS.

The disruptive technology has also become the platform of choice for some of the largest UK online pharmacies which have leveraged Titan’s highly scalable AWS cloud infrastructure to process mass volumes and, in some cases, over 60,000 prescriptions per day.

Tariq Muhammad, CEO of Invatech Health, said: “We’re delighted with the progress that Titan has made, commercially and operationally, over the past two years. We have taken an idea and built something which is helping independent pharmacy businesses and large scale operators alike.

“The pandemic has put pharmacies are under significant pressure and there is a need for technology that can help them cope with greater volume of work, as well as releasing pharmacists time to spend on front line healthcare.

“This latest award from Innovate UK, for which we are extremely grateful, will enable us to develop features that have never been seen before in our sector opening up new opportunities for pharmacists.

“With 5,000 independent and small group pharmacists in England and Wales, alongside the larger corporates, the commercial potential for Titan is massive. We’re fundamentally different to all other PMRs and are offering a new way of life for pharmacists and a new way of doing things.

“Titan is the “how” to the problem that everyone in our sector recognises. It can help to deliver the vision that everyone wants, while bringing benefits across the NHS and the health sector. Releasing pharmacists time is fundamental if we want them to, for example, help deliver the national vaccination programme.”

Mr Muhammad said that the pandemic has thrown the shortcomings of old technology into sharp focus across the sector, among large online businesses and small independents alike.

“This crisis has highlighted the incapacity of legacy systems to scale up and adapt to dynamic situations, in many business sectors,”.

“With this additional support from Innovate UK we plan to develop a wide range of new game-changing apps, delivered as extensions on the Titan platform. These will help address the new and immediate challenges that pharmacies are facing as a result of Covid-19 and provide innovative solutions to support their businesses and their patients in the long term.”

Innovate UK is a Government agency which supports innovation nationwide. It is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the national funding agency which invests in science and research in the UK. With a combined operating budget of more than £6 billion, UKRI brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England.

Nigel Walker, Director at Innovate UK Loans, said: “UKRI has invested nearly £500 million in a diverse range of 2,200 new research and innovation initiatives in the UK and globally. These range from investigating mental health issues to economic and environmental impacts, as well as helping innovative businesses through these tough times.

“As a part of UKRI, Innovate UK is therefore pleased to support Invatech Health in its important and highly innovative development of Titan PMR for the pharmacy sector. The business has met all the objectives established during the first phase of the loan arrangement and we are delighted to provide further funding to assist with the company’s ongoing innovations.”