Safe Rx Brings Tamper-Evident Prescription Bottles to Military Service Members

March 31, 2021– Safe Rx has partnered with Leading Points Corporation to provide their patented tamper-evident, locking pill bottles to service members and their families through a series of focused initiatives.

The first step is an exclusive discount available to all service members and their families, including those on Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard, and Veterans. Safe Rx is pleased to offer our heroes and their families a 20% discount on all of its products. Please visit the military offer at www.safe-rx.com/pages/military.

The next step will include working to place the product in key military outlets, including installation exchanges and other retail stores, pharmacies, military hospitals and clinics, aid stations, and VA hospitals and veterans’ service locations.

According to the HHS, a staggering 10.1 million people 12 years and older misused opioids in 2019, and 9.7 million of them misused prescription pain relievers. Our U.S. military is not immune to these problems. In 2018, the Military Times reported that one in four U.S. military service members had an opioid prescription in the previous year. Furthermore, a study reported in Military Medicine showed that combat wounded veterans have a higher risk of becoming addicted to and abusing drugs prescribed to them while they were serving, during their discharge, or after, than their civilian counterparts.

Safe Rx and Leading Points are working in parallel to the great work being done by military behavioral health specialists to safeguard, secure, and manage prescription medicines in homes, barracks, hospitals and more to nurture a culture of safe prescription drug use and protection for fellow service members and families. 

“Using a product like Safe Rx is a proactive, protective measure,” Kevin Sullivan, president of Leading Points. “We know that military members and their families prioritize steps that keep others safe. That’s a big part of why they joined in the first place. Making this product more accessible across the board is just the right thing to do.”

“Service members, active duty and veterans, have put themselves in danger to keep us safe,” Jason McGowin, Safe Rx Vice President, said. “Anything we can do to keep them and their families safe from the growing opioid crisis is vital. Our product is only a part of a larger conversation and intervention that needs to happen society wide, but it’s so important that we do our part.”

For more information about our product or our Military and Government program, please feel free to contact us at Military@Safe-Rx.com

Safe Rx has locked down $2.65 million in its latest funding round.

The Greenwood Village-based startup, which makes prescription drug bottles with combination locks designed to curb opioid abuse, plans to use its newly raised capital to increase production and staff.

“The No. 1 source for teen prescription drug abuse, nationally and here in Colorado, is pilfering from our parents’ medicine cabinets,” said Safe Rx CEO Milton Cohen. “And it’s not going to stop anytime soon unless somebody does something about it. So, that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

Safe Rx’s patented pill bottle is sold to health systems, such as Vail Health Hospital, pharmacy retailers and treatment centers that fill prescriptions directly into their bottles. Patients can also buy the bottles themselves in Target, Walmart, or on Amazon, as well as the company’s website.

Cohen said the state of Ohio is also looking at funding a statewide dispensing pilot of the company’s locking bottle next year.

“This is important because opioid abuse that starts in the medicine cabinet imposes huge costs on the U.S. healthcare system, with the excess care cost of pilfering estimated at $3 billion annually,” he added. “Locking pill bottles have been proven effective in early dispensing studies and are a low-cost early intervention that can generate significant treatment cost savings for large employers, payers, and providers with high rates of uncompensated care.”

A single locking pill bottle retails for $10, and customers can purchase up to a 10-pack for $80.

The startup, which launched its product in 2018, has 14 full-time employees and contractors in its headquarters at 6295 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. Cohen said they have already used the funds to hire three new employees to help increase business with health systems and pharmacies.

“It’s unlucky and lucky at the same time, but just about every one of our employees has a personal story in relation to opioid addiction,” Cohen said. “No neighborhood has been left untouched by this pandemic.”

This round brings Safe Rx’s total raised to around $8.65 million, according to Cohen. Investors included several investment groups of ultra-high-net-worth families, as well as pharmacy and healthcare industry executives.

“Given our mission, we have folks that invest for one reason or another because of a personal story attached, and we want to respect their privacy,” Cohen said.

Sean Serell, a practicing physician and father of two, founded the company in 2017 after growing frustrated with the increasing opioid crisis. He spent “countless amounts of time and money in research, design engineering, testing, education and outreach” to develop a simple, cost-effective solution to unauthorized access to prescription pills, according to the company’s website. Safe Rx’s locking pill bottles retail for $10 to $15.

While there aren’t many other locking pill bottles on the market, similar products include Safer Lock’s fourdigit combination locking cap, which retails for $18, as well as a prescription lock box ranging from $20 to $50, depending on the dimensions. Apothecary Products also sells an Ezy Dose container locked by a key to put your pill bottle in for $13.

Safe Rx sales slowed down in 2020 due to store closures, the cancellation of promotional events and without the usual back-to-school momentum, Cohen said. But the startup is gearing up for the “second-order effects of the pandemic,” he added.

“By second-order effects what we mean is people are losing their jobs, their houses, their food security, and one of the highest priorities in public health after those is substance abuse,” Cohen said. “Substance abuse is up 30 to 50 percent what it was pre-pandemic, so most health systems and other providers are really starting to focus on that effect. We are a key solution, particularly for our young people that have been experiencing a big dislocation because of the lack of school over the past year.”

In the next 90 days, Safe Rx also plans to start selling its products to military bases around the U.S.

“There’s a higher rate of prescribing in the military, which leads to a higher incidence of substance abuse and addiction as a result,” Cohen said.

Outside of its product line, Safe Rx is also working on licensing its cap enclosure technology and intellectual property to other consumer product brands in broader categories, he said.

“For instance, every nine minutes, a kid goes to the E.R. in the U.S. for over-the-counter poisoning,” Cohen said. “And separately, every 36 minutes a child goes to the E.R. in the U.S. from detergent pod poisoning. So, we’re looking to license our IP into additional product categories beyond prescription bottles.

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Original article appears on the Business Den

Prescription medications have many benefits, including managing pain, regulating chronic conditions, preventing disease and more. Despite numerous positives, medications can be dangerous to others in your household, especially kids.

 

As routines have changed and people are spending more time at home, parents may be unintentionally leaving medications out and accessible to children. Babies and toddlers may rattle medicine bottles like a toy. Curious kids may think the contents inside are candy. Child-resistant caps aren't enough, as many children can open them easily.

Every eight minutes a child goes to an emergency room for medicine poisoning, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, and three out of four ER visits for medicine poisoning are due to kids getting into parents’ or grandparents’ medicine. Unintentional injuries including poisoning are the leading cause of mortality among infants and children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research from the American Association of Poison Control Centers shows the vast majority (90%) of poisonings occur at home. National Poison Prevention Week is March 21-27, a good reminder to look at how you use medications in your household and adopt safer practices that include:

Never leave medications out: When busy multitasking, you may leave your medication out on a counter or toss it in your purse or backpack. Leaving it out even for a minute could be enough time for a child to access and open it. Don't leave medications where kids can see them or where they can easily be found, such as in drawers, on nightstands or in bags. If the medication is for your child when they are sick, never leave it in their bedroom.

Store medicines out of reach: Choose one storage location for all medication that is out of reach of children. This can be anywhere throughout the home that is high and out of sight. Get in the habit of putting medication back in its safe storage location every time.

Use a locking container: Even though most prescription containers have child-resistant caps, children can find ways to open them. Consider using Safe Rx Locking Pill Bottles to secure medications. The convenient portable containers require a four-digit code aligned from bottom to top to open. When you are done, you simply replace the cap and mix the numbers to lock the bottle securely.

Talk with your children: Be honest with kids about the dangers of taking prescriptions. Adjust your conversation based on your child's age, stressing that medications are only meant for the person the doctor prescribed them for and can be harmful to anyone else. Tell them to never take a medication without checking with you first and if they find any pills or bottles to bring them to you right away.

Dispose of unneeded medication properly: Check if your community has a drug disposal program for any unneeded medications. Many pharmacies offer take-back programs as well to properly dispose of unused prescriptions. If nothing is available near you, dispose of medications at home by mixing the pills or capsules in a container with an unappealing substance like dirt or cat litter before placing in the trash.

These steps will help significantly reduce the chances your child will access your medication. However, in case of emergency, call poison control immediately. Program the poison control center at 800-222-1222 into your home and cell phones. You may want to add this number on a sticky note or other label in your medicine storage space as well.

Original article source - Brandpoint