OrbitalRx
Founded 2017 · 12 employees on LinkedIn · 5 known investors
OrbitalRX provides a cloud-based platform for hospital pharmacy teams to manage drug shortages through centralized workflows and predictive intelligence. The software helps health systems anticipate supply disruptions and coordinate sourcing to protect patient care.
Also known as Orbital Rx · OrbitalRx · OrbitalRX
Investors · 5
Also in the syndicate · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026OrbitalRX develops software for hospital and health-system pharmacies to manage medication shortages. Its flagship product, Shortage Manager, aggregates fragmented pharmacy and supply data into a single interface, providing enterprise-wide visibility, centralized workflows and predictive intelligence so teams can identify at-risk drugs, evaluate alternatives and coordinate sourcing before disruptions affect patient care. A companion capability, Signal + Pulse, powered by the company's OrbitalIQ layer, adds local and network-level forecasting intended to shift shortage response from reactive to anticipatory. The company has also announced a forthcoming agentic AI platform for pharmacy operations, OrbitalAI, and is recruiting a limited group of collaborators to shape it.
The underlying problem the company addresses is the persistent unavailability of hospital drugs: at any given time roughly 250 to 400 drugs cannot be purchased by U.S. hospital pharmacies, and most pharmacies have historically tracked shortages, alternatives, cost differences, storage and preparation details, and prescriber communications in spreadsheets assembled manually from multiple systems and catalogs. OrbitalRX consolidates that information and keeps it updated in near real time, combining real-time drug inventory data with evidence-based clinical content; earlier coverage described the platform as collaborating with IBM Watson Health for medication information. The platform is described as suitable for hospital pharmacies in the United States and Canada, with the company noting it is open to eventually extending into retail pharmacy.
Founding story
OrbitalRX was founded by pharmacists Adam Orsborn (CEO) and Nate Peaty (chief product officer), each with more than a decade of experience managing hospital pharmacies, who set out to build the shortage-management tooling they lacked in practice. The original concept was a broad platform addressing every technology problem facing hospital pharmacies and integrating with every vendor system; after entering the New Ventures Accelerator run by Flywheel Coworking in 2018, the founders received feedback that the scope was too large, narrowed to three problem areas, and after roughly a year settled on medication shortage management as the focused product.
Business model
OrbitalRX sells cloud-based (SaaS) software to hospitals and health systems, with an implementation process in which the company guides each client through adoption so the platform fits existing communication workflows.
Software sold to health-system pharmacy departments; the company has framed product-market fit around a defined product that pharmacies would buy as a path to revenue.
Traction
The website cites use across leading health systems with metrics for unique drug products covered, inventory value, hospital count, logo retention and net promoter score (figures rendered as placeholders), and quotes a pharmacy leader at Ochsner Health reporting 8-10 hours saved per week. In 2021 the platform was reported in use at six hospitals nationally after first deployment at the University of Virginia, with claimed recovery of more than ten hours of staff time.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
OrbitalRX positions itself as a pharmacy-native, single-purpose vendor for drug shortage management and supply assurance, contrasting its focus with generalized systems that treat shortages as one feature among many; it reports use across multiple health systems and states that roughly 95 percent of the market still manages drug inventories in spreadsheets.
Founder-led by practicing hospital pharmacists, exclusive focus on drug shortages and supply assurance rather than broad pharmacy IT, aggregation of siloed pharmacy data into one interface, and predictive/network-level signals rather than manual, reactive tracking.
Technology
Cloud-based SaaS combining real-time drug inventory data with evidence-based clinical information, predictive intelligence via the OrbitalIQ layer behind Signal + Pulse, and an announced agentic AI platform, OrbitalAI, for pharmacy operations. Earlier reporting described the platform as collaborating with IBM Watson Health for medication information.
Go-to-market
Direct sales to health systems through demo requests and consultative implementation, supported by referenced customer outcomes; the company is also recruiting early collaborators and partners for its forthcoming AI product.
Hospital and health-system pharmacy leaders, pharmacy operations and medication supply chain teams; referenced users include Ochsner Health, ThedaCare and the University of Virginia, which was the first adopter.
Geography
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with offices at the Innovation Quarter's Innovation Suites; the platform is offered to hospital pharmacies in the United States and Canada.
History
The company narrowed its product scope following participation in the Flywheel Coworking New Ventures Accelerator in 2018 and raised $1.4 million from investors, nearly triple its original target. The University of Virginia was the first health system to adopt the platform, which was in use at six hospitals nationally by early 2021, when The Launch Place invested $150,000 from its Seed Fund II. The company later expanded the product with the Signal + Pulse forecasting capability and announced OrbitalAI, an agentic AI platform for pharmacy operations.
Risks & controversies
The company's expansion beyond shortage management into agentic AI is pre-release, and referenced traction figures on its site are presented without underlying disclosure. Dependence on a third-party medication data partnership (IBM Watson Health) was noted in earlier coverage.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsOrbitalRX announced OrbitalAI, described as an agentic AI platform for pharmacy operations, and is recruiting early collaborators ahead of availability.
The Launch Place, a venture development organization with offices in Danville, VA and Research Triangle Park, NC, made OrbitalRX its first investment of 2021 and its twenty-third venture, contributing $150,000 from Seed Fund II to the company's funding round.
$150K source ↗
The OrbitalRX platform collaborates with IBM Watson Health, which supplies medication information to the software.
Founders Adam Orsborn and Nate Peaty raised $1.4 million from investors, nearly triple the amount originally sought, after narrowing the product to drug shortage management.
$1.4M source ↗
OrbitalRX entered the New Ventures Accelerator run by Flywheel Coworking, where feedback led the team to narrow its product scope.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- OrbitalRxorbitalrx.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does OrbitalRx do?
- OrbitalRX sells a cloud platform that helps hospital pharmacy teams anticipate, track and respond to drug shortages.
- Who are OrbitalRx's investors?
- OrbitalRx's investors include Alerion Ventures, Excelerate Health Ventures, The Launch Place, Good Life Sciences Generations.