ZappRx, a digital specialty prescription and prior authorization platform, has been purchased by EHR vendor Allscripts for an unknown sum. CNBC broke the news yesterday, which MobiHealthNews confirmed with Allscripts.

CNBC’s sources said that the deal’s value did not exceed the total that investors poured into ZappRx, which Crunchbase pegs at $41 million.

Founded in 2012 and based in Boston, ZappRx’s cloud-based platform serves providers, pharmacies and patients in need of specialty medications for complex illnesses. The tool streamlines communication, consent permissions, orders and other multi-step administrative tasks that could fall through the cracks. Its most recent funding round was a Series B that closed in April of 2017.

WHY IT MATTERS

Allscripts’ Veradigm unit services a range of healthcare stakeholders by integrating software analytics, reporting and workflow tools. This pickup will allow Veradigm to add new capabilities to its product.

“Allscripts is excited to add ZappRx’s platform to our growing portfolio,” a representative of Allscripts said in an email statement. “The specialty-prescribing space is a key focus area for Veradigm, our payer and life sciences business unit. The addition of ZappRx’s team and technology will augment our solution offerings and provide great value to our clients.”

WHAT’S THE TREND

The acquisition is an echo of last year’s PillPack-Amazon deal. The fallout from this purchase, rumored to have cost the online retail giant just under $1 billion, was relatively minimal until Amazon kicked off its marketing campaign for a virtual pharmacy service in late April.