Leslie Asanga, a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health, launched the Pills2Me service, which operates on an “Uber for prescriptions” model. The app lets you order delivery of prescription medications from any pharmacy straight to your doorstep. What began as a volunteer initiative at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a scalable business serving patients of all ages, including older adults and immunocompromised people.
Pills2Me by the numbers—and where it operates
As of today, the service operates in 18 cities across seven U.S. states. The company has 13 full-time employees, and the total number of completed deliveries has exceeded 1 million. Its headquarters are in Las Vegas. Deliveries are carried out by thousands of independent couriers, whom the company calls caregivers. In Nevada alone, there are more than 500 of them.
The problem of “abandoned” prescriptions
In early 2020, Asanga worked part-time as a pharmacist at a New Haven pharmacy while studying at Yale. As lockdowns began, he noticed an alarming trend: patients were increasingly not picking up prescribed medications. Older adults were hit especially hard. “When the pandemic began, I saw a rise in abandoned prescriptions, primarily among older adults,” he noted.
How widespread is it?
The problem existed long before COVID-19, but the pandemic sharply worsened it. According to 2019 data, the abandonment rate was about 30%, rising to 50% for electronic prescriptions. Lockdowns and fear of infection only intensified this wave.
Consequences for patients and the healthcare system
When a patient does not receive basic therapy, the consequences extend far beyond the pharmacy counter. Asanga found that a rise in abandoned prescriptions is directly linked to an increase in emergency department visits. People ended up in emergencies precisely because they were not taking essential medications. The problem turned out to be at the intersection of public health and service logistics.
Volunteer deliveries in three days in March 2020
Asanga decided to recruit young, healthy residents to deliver medications to vulnerable groups. He began recruiting volunteers among Yale students and staff. Within three days, 50 people signed up. “I was incredibly inspired by how people simply wanted to help,” the founder recalls.
From a website form to a one-tap service
The first version of the solution was extremely simple: a friend of Asanga’s built a web form through which people submitted delivery requests. After receiving a request, Asanga manually matched it with an available volunteer. Order volume grew quickly, and requests came not only from older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Some customers offered to pay, which pushed him toward automation.
Startup Yale as a turning point
In April 2020, Asanga presented his idea at the annual Startup Yale event, where student entrepreneurs compete for a prize pool of more than $200,000. His Pills2Me pitch won him the Thorne Prize with an award of $25,000.
These funds were used to begin developing an early version of the app. Interns from the Yale School of Engineering and students from the School of Management joined the effort, helping think through the business model. “On campus, there is this interconnectedness that creates an ecosystem that provides access to resources,” Asanga explained.
Switching to a paid model—and the speed gains
Initially, the service remained free for older adults and immunocompromised people. For other categories, a delivery fee was introduced. At the same time, the company introduced courier background checks and an onboarding program. The shift from a volunteer to a paid model produced a measurable effect: the average order completion time dropped to 30 minutes instead of several hours. The reason is simple: paid couriers were consistently available and ready to head out.
From New Haven to Las Vegas
Asanga is originally from Cameroon and moved to the U.S. in 2010, and in 2014 he settled in Las Vegas. After graduating in May 2020, he returned there, counting on Nevada’s aging population as a natural user base for the service. The bet paid off, and later Pills2Me expanded to other major cities, including Chicago and Houston.
For Las Vegas, this project is important not only because older adults and vulnerable groups can count on real help, but also for economic reasons. The pandemic and the post-pandemic period significantly hit the region’s economy. The flow of tourists who come to gamble at casinos has not only failed to recover, but continues to gradually decline.
Experts attribute this to the development of the online casino segment, which allows gamblers from Canada or Mexico to play slots or roulette while staying at home. Additional attractive features of online casinos include an extensive catalog of gambling games, as well as a variety of bonuses. Players often choose no deposit casino bonus ontario, because they perceive such bonuses as an opportunity to win without investing money. And even though the promotion comes with wagering requirements, it fulfills the main condition—it attracts the attention of new players.
Taken together, these factors make it increasingly difficult for land-based casinos to compete with gaming platforms for players’ attention. This shifts the focus to other business areas, which become important regardless of scale.
Investment and recognition from Google
In 2023, Asanga was selected as a recipient of the Google for Startups Black and Latino Founders Fund. The program provided $150,000 with no equity taken, as well as sales and fundraising training, technical support, and mentorship. These resources made it possible to take Pills2Me to a new level of development.
Yale’s role and an advisor’s perspective
Yale’s entrepreneurial ecosystem played a key role in the project’s formation. Pills2Me advisor and YSPH faculty member Kaveh Khoshnoud noted: “The COVID-19 pandemic increased the importance of innovation and social entrepreneurship in public health. Our goal is to support students like Leslie so they can turn their projects into sustainable and meaningful companies.”
Growth and new directions
The company switched to dynamic pricing that takes distance, traffic, and other factors into account. Last year, the Shifts by Pills2Me platform launched, allowing pharmacies to hire pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on demand. Workers get flexible schedules, and pharmacy owners save money by filling shifts as needed.
Who can use the service today
Today, anyone can use Pills2Me, and the company combines prescription delivery with a B2B offering for the pharmacy business. One of the most memorable stories involves an elderly customer whose husband died of cancer. She told Asanga that Pills2Me became an integral part of caring for her husband: the app helped ensure medications were delivered to their home on time. “These are the moments that define the meaning of what we do,” the founder said. “When an order comes in, it can be a matter of life and death.”