How to Build a Pharmaceutical App

Pharma app development requires conforming with certain regulations and implementation of different features. In this article, you can find out the cost of pharmaceutical app creation, the essential specialists, and the required tech stack.

Pharmaceutical App Development: Types and Must-Have Features

Pharmaceutical apps are highly advantageous and efficient for both clients and medical brands. They provide a wide range of opportunities like purchasing medical products online for users and attracting a broader audience for companies.

Yet, the creation of such apps is a complex process with specific peculiarities, challenges, and pitfalls. This article will discuss how to build a successful pharma solution and its cost.

ePharmacy Market Overview

Nowadays, ordering products online is a handy practice for lots of users. Pharma companies also use this opportunity to provide consumers with a convenient way to find all the essential information about the goods and make purchases. As a result, the pharmacy market revenue got to 1.27 trillion dollars in 2020 and is forecasted to reach $178 billion by 2026.

Types of Pharma Apps To Develop

To build a pharma app successfully you should choose an appropriate type of the solution among the three existing options:

Pharma marketplace apps. Such applications allow ordering online medical goods and picking them up at the chosen pharmacies. Pharmacies place their goods on your market.
Online pharmacy apps. This solution is great for independent medical businesses which want to work directly with customers and supply products ordered with the help of an app.
Pharmacy store chain app. For established companies or pharmacy networks, this option allows increasing credibility and engage consumers.

Pharma App Development: Things to Consider

The developed solution has to be useful for every side of the pharma business system. Here are four sides to create a pharma medical app for:

Clients’ app. It displays categorized medical products, brands, and an opportunity to place and track orders. Besides, there should be a section to upload prescriptions to gather all the necessary goods.
Pharmacist’s app. Pharmacists receive, organize and fulfill the orders of consumers.
Couriers’ app. This solution enables to receive new orders, their status, and the shipping address.
Admin panel. Business owners can control the entire application by editing the list of the placed products and brands, processing payments, and tracking user actions.

Each solution comprises a range of features to implement. Here are some essential ones depending on the app’s aim.

Client app

The solution for consumers should be easy-to-use and intuitive, so keep the design clear. Here’s the list of must-have features for such apps:

Registration. The app should provide the option to register with the help of an email or phone number by entering the data manually or signing in using social networks (Google, Facebook).
Filtering system. Clients should be able to apply various filters like their aim, price, availability in nearby pharmacies, etc. The appearing list should display the information about each product in more detail.
Geolocation. This feature allows tracking orders in real-time.
Cart and payment methods. Clients can collect necessary medicine in a cart and order it by entering the shipping data and purchasing with the offered payment systems.
Push notifications. They help customers to keep up with the order status, discounts, and special offers.

Pharmacist app

This solution notifies pharmacists about the orders made by clients, so they can prepare them for the delivery. You can see the feature list below:

Orders operation. An app should have a section that allows to accept and edit the status of orders.

Integration of warehouse systems of pharmacies. Pharmacists should be able to control the list of posted products and update which of them are in stock right now.

Courier app

Delivery services employees should be able to receive the shipping address. Features to implement for a couriers’ app are the following:

Registration. Couriers should sign in via social networks or fill in the data for registration themselves using an email or phone number.
Maps. The map helps to build convenient routes for couriers and reach the destination point conveniently.
Delivery info. Each order’s section should comprise the address, delivery time, receiver, and other information required to accomplish the delivery service.

Admin panel

This feature mainly incorporates tools useful for app managing:

Login. A safe login prevents both your and app’s users’ data from hacking.

Analytics. The provided indicators allow observing the number of orders, delivery details, income, etc.

Payment operations. This option helps you receive the fees for your application usage from both pharmacies and clients.

Tech Stack for Pharmaceutical App Creation

Each platform requires a particular programming language. To illustrate, Swift is used for iOS, whereas Kotlin is suitable for Android. Besides, the database is required as well.

Each feature requires a particular technology for a successful implementation. Let’s take a look at them:

Feature	Technology
Registration	Facebook SDK, Google SDK
Search	Elastic Search
Geolocation	Google location API, Location Framework
Payments	Braintree, Stripe
Push notification	Amazon SNS, FCM
Integration of warehouse systems of pharmacies	Highjump, Manhattan Associates, Oracle SCM Cloud, WMS Cloud, Soften
Order management	custom APIs
Maps	Google Maps, Location Framework

Compliances Required for Pharma App Development

Every pharma and healthcare app development company must comply with specific legal and privacy regulations depending on the region. This point is crucial, so let’s consider the existing acts:

HIPAA. Apps that work with the Protected Healthcare Information (PHI) in the US must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It ensures confidentiality and immunity to the user data.
CCPA. California Consumer Privacy Act implies that the customer must be notified about what data is gathered and receive a free report of collected information at the request.
GDPR. Each solution that gathers and processes private data (for instance, cloud storage) in the European Union must comply with General Data Protection Regulation.
NIST. National Institute of Standards and Technology compliance is aimed at data security of medical applications in the United States. NIST framework is considered to be the most successful cybersecurity practice.
HiTECH. The HITECH Act extends the HIPAA regulations by introducing significant advantages for patients. Users are provided with their Protected Health Information online.
PIPEDA. Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is applied to a Canadian Market.

Cost of Pharma App Development

The development cost can be calculated due to the time required for the development. The attached document comprises the time estimate for each of the four described solutions with the features included.

The development of all four solutions requires 966 hours. The whole process is divided into modules, which are split into sprints in turn. Furthermore, another factor defining the cost is a list of essential specialists required to build a pharma app:

Front-end developer – sprint 1-2
Back-end developer – all sprints
iOS developer (2X) – all sprints
Android developer (2X) – all sprints
UI/UX designer – sprint 1-5
Business Analyst – sprint 1-5
Project Manager – all sprints
QA engineer – all sprints
DevOps engineer – all sprints
Team lead – all sprints

The whole project development involving this list of experts approximately costs $137,100. Needless to say, that the total price varies depending on your project requirements, features, and a chosen software development vendor.

Summarize

An ePharmacy market keeps evolving, so it’s an excellent startup idea to build a pharmacy solution. The vital requirement to follow is to comply with the regulations listed above. To successfully conform to these acts, you should apply to a trustworthy software development company with experience in pharma app creation. Moreover, you’ll receive a top-notch solution with smooth performance and a sophisticated design by accurately choosing a credible vendor. Such a product will advance your company, increase the profit of your business, and attract more customers.

My name is Katherine Orekhova and I am a technical writer at Cleveroad – mobile app development company. I’m keen on technology and innovations. My passion is to tell people about the latest tech trends in the world of IT.