Walid Mowaswes, a pharmacist who juggles multiple pharmacies, knows the struggle of keeping things efficient as his business grows. 

Mowaswes saw an opportunity for improvement and tapped his in-house development team. He founded PharmaGuide, a software that helps pharmacies streamline operations and reduce redundancies.

But Mowaswes knew collaboration was key to reaching more patients. That's where the Communitech Fast Track Health program came in. 

This program focuses on challenges identified by health-care partners and surfaces solutions from Canadian tech companies, with the end goal of commercialization through piloting and procurement opportunities. 

Fast Track(ing) connections

PharmaGuide participated in the first iteration of the Fast Track Health program (formerly known as Future of Health) in 2022. 

"Fast Track Health was instrumental in helping our company grow," Mowaswes stated. "Collaborating with other companies is key to reaching more patients, and the program connected us with a vast network and opened doors to new opportunities. It was like expanding our ecosystem, keeping us moving in the right direction."

Fast Track(ing) lucrative partnerships

Through Fast Track Health, Mowaswes not only found the network and support needed to propel PharmaGuide's success but also got selected as one of the three companies to work with Pfizer.

To tackle health-care challenges, Pfizer partnered with Communitech and launched a call-for-solutions program targeting Canadian startups with expertise in areas like vaccination tracking and women's health. 

The three startups, including PharmaGuide received $1.4 million combined from Pfizer and growth resources from Communitech. 

“The Pfizer partnership was a game-changer,” Mowaswes said. “It provided crucial funding, but the real win was the network. The announcement event connected us with key decision-makers from insurance companies and stakeholders across multiple states. Having Pfizer as a collaborator opens doors to even more exciting opportunities down the road.”

Fast Track(ing) impact

While still in deployment stages, PharmaGuide's collaboration with Pfizer is laser-focused on a critical challenge: reducing physician time wasted on administrative tasks. A staggering 18.6 million doctor hours are lost annually to paperwork and specialty drug forms. PharmaGuide's innovative solution aims to cut this time in half, potentially freeing up enough capacity for an additional 28 million patient visits.

“Our new PharmaVisionAI platform has shown promise in tackling this administrative burden,” Mowaswes said. “With the upcoming launch in June, we'll have concrete data to share, but early results suggest that this technology will have an even greater impact than initially anticipated.”

Fast Track(ing) growth

The Fast Track Health program proved to be a growth engine for PharmaGuide. Since joining the program, Mowaswes has seen a jump in team size – he’s aiming to go from 6-8 people right now to a team of 12 by May.

"We've seen significant expansion in our partnerships with major enterprises,” he said. “Just this year, the number of large agreements we've secured has quadrupled, jumping from three in 2022 to 12 currently.”

And the good news keeps rolling – the company’s revenue has more than doubled every year for the past three years.

Fast Track(ing) the power of community

For Mowaswes, the program's strength lies in its collaborative environment. Unlike operating in isolation, the program connects participants with a vast pool of people. This access to diverse experiences and expertise allows participants to learn from each other's successes and challenges, fostering a powerful support system that transcends individual roles or companies.

“The ability to ask someone a question and know they'll have the answer because they've been there – that's incredibly powerful,” Mowaswes said. “The Fast Track community has become a cornerstone of PharmaGuide's success, providing invaluable support and resources whenever we need them.”