Keep Labs constructed a lockable storing compartment for medication, and also it doesn’t matter if the medications are available in containers, packages, or even nickel bags. The Always keep is actually developed to secure all of them safely and securely and also track their usage. The business introduced in 2019, gained – and also dropped– a development honor at CES 2020, and also today began delivering its own very first item to customers.
The Always keep gadget is actually charming. I possess an exam device resting on my shower room narcissism, and also it appears additional like a clever sound speaker than a protected package. There’s a time clock on the front end and also a smooth matte surface. Hit a switch in the application, and also the cover opens up, unveiling a room to store around 6 containers of supplements. Or even, along with safe setting handicapped, a dual touch on the main opens up the gadget without requiring a cell phone.
Take a supplement or more? The Always keep utilizes an advanced incrustation to recognize liquors that were actually sent back only a bit lighter, and also this is actually documented in the application. Didn’t take your medications? The Always keep understands and also can easily induce a cell phone alert on your or even a friend’s phone.
To the owners, Always keep is actually much more than only a protected package; it’s an answer to damage decrease and also drug administration.
I just recently talked with founder, Head of state, and also Leader Philip Wilkins regarding the business’s quest coming from a pre-order results account to locating a company offering through partnering along with Canadian doctor.
From marijuana to medicine
Wilkins is actually an earnest business owner. Devote a couple of moments along with him, and also it’s crystal clear he’s zealous regarding dealing with the issue of protecting medication.
This was actually the 2nd opportunity I talked with him. The very first was actually back In 2019 when his business gained a development honor at CES 2020. This honor was actually later on retracted given that the gadget was actually industried as a marijuana storage. In 2019, entering into 2020, the exchange team throwing CES possessed a meticulous yet tortuous viewpoint on marijuana items. In Some Way, Always keep Labs gained an honor. At some point, somebody at the CTIA observed Always keep Laboratory’s advertising and marketing and also drew the reward. This triggered a firestorm, at some point leading the CTIA to relax its own viewpoint on cannabis-adjacent items — nevertheless, marijuana is actually lawful in Nevada, where CES is actually kept.
This knowledge has actually possessed a long-term affect on Always keep Labs. Take a look at the web site. Marijuana is actually certainly not stated. The Always keep is actually currently industried along with the catch-all phrase, medication.
“Marijuana is actually still certainly there,” he mentioned, taking note that the business is actually still on the exact same objective of danger decrease. “Marijuana was actually an excellent means to begin a talk given that every person desires to speak about marijuana, yet no person desires to speak about obtaining higher.”
By merely pointing out “medication,” the business thinks that it discovered a really good happy medium along with its own message. As Wilkins informed me, Google.com and also Meta greatly restrain the phrase “marijuana” in marketing, which confines the advertising and marketing range of such gadgets as Always keep. Ahead of the launch, Always keep Labs needed to perform pre-orders utilizing a Shopify retail store given that Kickstarter and also Indiegogo additionally didn’t make it possible for items to become industried along with the phrase cannabis.
Pre-order success
Keep was actually birthed coming from an acquainted account. Wilkins was actually utilizing drug to manage a brand new problem, and also his partner was actually involved regarding their three-year-old getting involved in the medicines. It’s an expanding battle with lots of houses, particularly along with the increase of marijuana edibles packaged to seem like goodie.
At the time, he looked at the market and saw several pill dispensing medications. “There were a lot of medication dispensing devices, but it was very clinical in nature. And so, like every crazy entrepreneur, [I said] ‘let me see if I can go solve this problem for myself.’”
The company saw early success despite not having a shipping product. They capitalized on the attention of getting kicked out of CES and in December 2019, launched a pre-order campaign. Over 15,000 people pre-ordered the device, with 5,000 paying in full. Back then, the pre-order noted that all sales were final, but the company reversed course and also offered everyone a refund when COVID hit, and Keep Labs lost its manufacturer. Philip said that only 5% of the pre-orders were canceled.
A time out due to COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic changed Keep Labs. The company was heading towards production when the pandemic hit. Nearly overnight, all of their manufacturing contracts were canceled, leaving the pre-orders and the company up in the air.
“What the hell do we do now,” Philip said, adding that they took a step back and started talking to their pre-order customers—all of them. For the next year, the company spoke to two to three customers weekly about what made them pre-order the device. “What we found was that a lot people were buying [the Keep] for medication tracking, and not for the primary use case of locking medication in a box.”
This critical feedback led to Philip stepping down as CEO. He brought on Jeff Wandzura to lead the company.
Jeff Wandzura is a trained pharmacist who previously sold two digital health companies. Wilkins said he felt Jeff’s skills were complementary to his skill set, and it was the right thing to do for the company. “Honestly, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made throughout my career as Jeff grounded the company, has driven our enterprise success, and become a close friend.”
“As you can imagine, the pandemic brought about a lot of uncertainty, and we lost some good people,” Wandzura told me. “After I started speaking to pre-order customers to understand why they bought Keep, it was clear that I needed a partner from the pharma/pharmacy world.
“The world of medication compliance is complex, and we needed the clinical knowledge on the team. I wasn’t comfortable. And two, I’ve always felt a strong fiduciary duty to my investors to make decisions in the company’s best interest, which meant checking my ego at the door.”
Wilkins continues to talk to customers. The company has an active beta program with 150 users, and he calls the top 10 users weekly to better understand their usage. He’s discovered people are now using their Keep for other critical items like keys, passports, and cash. He believes these additional use cases show users’ trust the device.
With Wandzura leading the company and with gobs of customer feedback, Keep Labs started exploring an enterprise offering focused on medication adherence along with harm reduction.
The company became part of the McKesson Digital Health Network in Canada to provide real-time data about whether patients are taking their medication. Keep Labs also has a partnership with Savvy Cooperative to give away free Keep devices to patients who are living with chronic conditions. These partnerships provide an invaluable feedback loop of front-line patients interacting with their devices.
“Let’s make it super easy to deploy to individuals who need support,” Philip said. “And we provide de-identified aggregate data to understand how many patients in the population are adhering [to their medications] and how many need intervention so they can understand patient behaviors at home. We charge a nominal subscription fee for that.”
I asked about how the company safeguards personal data and received the following statement that’s worth reprinting in full:
“Protecting user privacy and ensuring data security are paramount for KEEP. We adhere to stringent data protection regulations such as HIPAA in the U.S. and PIPEDA in Canada to safeguard customer information. All data transmitted through KEEP is encrypted both in transit and at rest, utilizing robust encryption algorithms. Our platform employs multi-factor authentication, regular security audits, and penetration testing to protect against unauthorized access. Furthermore, we conduct ongoing staff training and adhere to a strict privacy policy to ensure that all members of our team are vigilant and adhere to the highest standards of data protection and software development including RBAC. This comprehensive, multi-layered approach to security ensures that patient information remains confidential and secure at all times.”
Philip added that its encryption keys are generated on the fly within their production environment and securely stored. No individual has direct access to the keys. Data is transmitted using TLS 1.3 encryption, while data at rest is secured with AES-256 encryption. User passwords undergo hashing with PBKDF2 utilizing SHA256. The company uses automated tools such as Scan Hawk and Synk to test its security and provide code vulnerability assessments. He notes that their code is subject to peer reviews, and the company uses the Coalition Cybersecurity and Stendard to provide a final layer of external review.
It’s worth applauding Keep Lab’s security and privacy measures. The above shows a company that’s proud of its efforts and is comfortable making them public.
Cooling meds is next for Keep
With its first product shipping to consumers, Keep Labs is exploring raising capital at the end of 2023 or early 2024. The company has raised $2.18 million from venture capital sources, including StartUp Health’s Transformer Fund, Plug and Play Tech Center, Onbelay Capital, and 001 Ventures.
Angels have helped Keep Labs along the way, too. The company’s advisory board includes former IBM Watson head Michael Rhodin.
“We’ve got a lot of contracts we’ll be announcing over the next a number of months, which is super exciting,” Philip said. “And then after that, it’s the launch of our second gen product, which is the same as the original, except it’s got a cooling device.”
He explained that nearly 50% of the drugs in the FDA pipeline require cooling: “Ozempic is a great example, and people are keeping it in their fridge, next to their butter, and we’ve heard from customers and enterprise partners that [adding cooling] could be a huge win.”
Until then, the business’s first generation item is available from Keep Lab’s website. It comes in black and also white and also sets you back $299
