Problem

In addition to drug descriptions, the FDB MedKnowledge®  database also includes drug product images. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, FDB would dispatch a team of photographers to various warehouses, laboratories, and pharmacies to capture these images. Due to the pandemic, this became impossible. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate drug information became increasingly critical, making it necessary to continue obtaining images for new product submissions.

The initial proposal was to address this challenge by enabling drug database users to submit images themselves. However, this approach presented several difficulties, such as ensuring the quality of the images, capturing specific elements of the packaging, requiring review by FDB staff, and avoiding duplicate submissions.

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Solution

Our team had previously collaborated with FDB in developing a mobile educational healthcare application for its Meducation® solution, designed to assist patients in managing their medications and understanding their medication instructions. Given this successful partnership, FDB chose our Product Studio services once again.

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The Product Inception Stage

When FDB first reached out to Xmartlabs, they had a preliminary concept of what they wanted. They had identified their ideal customer, target market, and the specific problem they wanted to solve.

We needed to ground their initial idea and ensure the various stakeholders were on board with the project. With this purpose in mind, we carried out inception deck workshops to ensure alignment regarding expectations and product requirements.

FDB wanted to launch an MVP as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. After careful analysis, we advised our client to develop an MVP with a standalone backend that could be integrated into their systems later, reducing time-to-market and cost while preserving scalability. Despite not being the approach they initially envisioned, our client trusted our expertise and the solution proved successful.

The Design Stage

In the process of defining the product, we conducted extensive research on existing similar tools for reference and benchmarking purposes. This included evaluating their features and gathering feedback from users. With this information, we proceeded to define the user flow and create wireframes. Simultaneously, we carried out a tech validation to ensure the feasibility of the proposed solution.

As the app was intended for use both within the US and internationally, it was necessary to consider and adapt two distinct user flows. These flows were tailored to meet country-specific needs, primarily to ensure compliance with regulations such as HIPAA and their international equivalents.

When everything was greenlit, we went into the user interaction aspect of the process. This involved adapting FDB's existing branding to new designs, including the creation of medicine illustrations, to enhance the user's experience and assist in navigation.

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The Development Stage

To ensure maximum accessibility, our team aimed to make the app compatible with a wide range of devices. To accomplish this, we chose to utilize a hybrid framework, specifically React Native, which allowed us to achieve the desired level of compatibility.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of launching the app in response to pandemic-related restrictions, our team determined that an out-of-the-box back-office solution would be the most efficient and cost-effective option. This choice not only ensured optimal performance and seamless integration with FDB's APIs, but it also helped to save valuable time and resources for the client.

The use of Agile methodologies allowed the client to test and give feedback on the app with each iterative release, making sure once the product was released, it would be just what they desired.

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