CENTRAL FILL PHARMACY AUTOMATION MARKET ANALYSIS

Central Fill Pharmacy Automation Market Size and Trends

Global central fill pharmacy automation market is estimated to be valued at USD 654 Mn in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 1,401 Mn by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% from 2024 to 2031.

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Factors like growing need to reduce medication errors, increased demand for mail-order prescriptions, and focus on improving workflow efficiency are expected to boost demand for central fill pharmacy automation systems. Central fill operations allow pharmacies to consolidate high-volume prescription fulfillment operations at regional or centralized sites that leverage automation technology. This enables pharmacies to offer faster fulfillment turnaround times to patients and healthcare providers while optimizing costs with streamlined workflow processes. Innovations incorporating artificial intelligence, track-and-trace capabilities, and inventory management can also provide opportunities for key market players.  

Rising demand for specialty drugs

Specialty drugs such as biologics for treating chronic diseases like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and others  are usually very expensive and require special storage and handling. These often need to be refrigerated or even frozen. With more patients being prescribed such complex specialty drugs for treating various chronic conditions, pharmacies are finding it challenging to efficiently store, pick, pack and ship these sensitive medications while maintaining their integrity. Central fill pharmacy automation facilitates effective inventory management and strict temperature control of specialty drugs, thus, minimizing wastage. The automated systems ensure drugs are picked, verified and packed accurately in thermostabilized environments by robots based on prescription orders. This reduces the risk of temperature excursions which can compromise the potency of drugs. Central fill pharmacies with automation are equipped to cater the growing need for proper handling of specialty medications across a wide geographic region in a cost-effective manner. For instance, in December 2023, according to the data published by TechTarget, Inc., specialty drugs' rising prominence in healthcare necessitates better cost management and patient experiences. Solutions like Optum's Specialty Fusion integrate management across medical and pharmacy benefits, thus, reducing costs. Strategies such as medication synchronization and flexible programs are vital for managing spending and improving experiences amidst expensive specialty drugs' influx.

Increasing focus on enhancing pharmacy workflow efficiency

Pharmacy managers and owners are under constant pressure to improve workflow efficiency and turnaround times as prescription volumes increases. With limited staff and storage space, it is difficult for pharmacies to keep pace with demand while maintaining high accuracy levels. Central fill pharmacy automation addresses this challenge by streamlining the picking, verification, counting and packaging process through robotic and automated solutions. Tasks such as vial capping, tray loading, label verification, and others, which were earlier done manually, can now be rapidly performed 24/7 by machines, freeing up pharmacists and technicians to focus on more complex duties. Automation brings transparency to the filling process and integrates it with inventory and prescription management systems. This improves visibility and allows central fill pharmacies to consistently achieve turnaround targets for dispensing large volumes of orders from partner pharmacies. The systems also optimize pharmacy space utilization through compact designs and vertically-stacked storage of drugs. As a result, central fill pharmacies equipped with automation can fill and ship prescriptions of multiple retail partners simultaneously in an efficient, low error manner. For instance, on February 27, 2024, iA (Intelligent Automation), a company that provides an integrated pharmacy fulfillment platform for retail, health system, and government pharmacies, launched Shared Central Fulfillment, a cloud-based solution enabling pharmacy fulfillment owners to offer centralized services to multiple partners from one center.