[AI Revolution](139) Medility "Reducing Errors with AI Pill Counting"... Assisting Pharmacists' Work

Interview with Park Sangeon, CEO of Medility
Relieving the Burden of Pill Counting with Pilleye

Park Sang-eon, CEO of Medility, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at his office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

"Counting pills one by one is a time-consuming and laborious task for pharmacists. Artificial intelligence (AI) can take over this job." Counting pills is often considered 'hard labor' for pharmacists. It is common for them to dedicate extra work hours or even work overtime just to count pills. The AI startup Medility has launched an application called 'Pilleye' that uses AI to handle the tedious task of counting pills.

Park Sang-eon, CEO of Medility, whom we met on the 5th, is a veteran pharmacist with over 10 years of experience working in pharmacies. Through his pharmacy experience, Park felt that the speed of counting pills, rather than dispensing or patient interaction, often determines a pharmacist’s capability. He said, "Pharmacists have to count pills every time to manage drug inventory, but because of this menial task, they lack sufficient time to carefully explain how to take the medication to customers. Applying AI to pill counting can save time and reduce errors."

Medility developed Pilleye using 'Vision AI,' an AI-based video analysis technology. Pilleye can count how many pills are in a specific space by using a camera. The AI works by considering lighting, pill shape, and color. It counts pills 10 times per second, a process that reduces errors and improves accuracy.

When pills are photographed with a smartphone or tablet with the app installed, green dots appear on pills that have already been counted. This allows pharmacists to verify whether the AI has accurately identified the number of pills. If a green dot appears on something that is not a pill or if a pill lacks a green dot, the pharmacist can immediately correct the count. This feature helps prevent medication misuse that could result from incorrect pill counting.

After launching 'Pilleye Photo,' which is based on photos, in November 2020, Medility released 'Pilleye Live,' which analyzes videos, in October last year. The app has expanded to 220 countries worldwide and has surpassed 700,000 users. It is especially popular in North America, where large pharmacies or corporate pharmacies are common and bulk packaging?storing pills in plastic containers?is the norm.

Medility plans to go beyond just counting pills by developing dispensing technology that uses AI to analyze pill ingredients and effects for automatic classification. Supporting dispensing while also tracking pill counts can further enhance pharmacists’ work efficiency.

CEO Park said, "Our goal is to redefine pharmacies as patient care-centered spaces. Usually, pharmacies are perceived as places where prescriptions are handed in and only medications are received, but we want to reduce unnecessary tasks so pharmacists can focus on attending to patients."