MedSave

Fighting Drug Waste, Fueling Health Equity.

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Inspiration

Every year, billions of dollars in unused medications are discarded by:

  • Pharmacies
  • Hospitals
  • Nursing homes

Often, this is simply due to expiration dates.
One study found that hospitals waste over $800 million in usable drugs annually.
Meanwhile, 1 in 3 Americans skip medications due to cost.

What it does

MedSave bridges the gap between surplus medications and communities in need.

It connects:

  • Pharmacies with excess or soon-to-expire inventory that can offer steep discounts
  • Nonprofits and clinics serving underserved populations:
    • Community health centers
    • Shelters
    • Aid organizations

By reducing waste and improving access to essential medicine, MedSave makes a tangible impact — both environmentally and socially.

How we built it

  • Frontend: React, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Tailwind CSS
  • Authentication: Google OAuth
  • Address Lookup: Mapbox API
  • Backend: Flask with multiple RESTful endpoints
  • Database: SQLite (for user, drug, and pharmacy data)
  • External API: NDC Directory API (for drug metadata)

How it works

Upon visiting MedSave:

  • Users log in via Google authentication
  • They select one of two roles:
    • Pharmacy
    • Nonprofit

Pharmacy users can:

  • List surplus/soon-to-expire medications by entering:
    • NDC code
    • Pharmacy name
    • Location
    • Price
    • Expiration date
  • The backend uses the NDC Directory API to autofill:
    • Generic drug name
    • Manufacturer info
  • All data is stored in a SQLite database and displayed in the marketplace

Nonprofit users can:

  • Search for medications by entering:
    • Drug name
    • Their address
  • The backend returns:
    • Listings from the nearest pharmacies selling the drug
    • Prioritized by proximity

Challenges we ran into

As first-time hackathon participants, we faced challenges such as:

  • ⚙️ Git and version control mishaps
  • 🎨 Frontend styling and layout tweaks
  • 🔐 Troubleshooting authentication flow
  • 🔄 Keeping backend and frontend in sync

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • ✅ Completed and deployed a full-stack web application
  • 🔐 Successfully integrated Google OAuth and Mapbox
  • 🤝 Collaborated and adapted quickly under time pressure
  • 🧠 Gained practical experience with APIs, databases, and user roles

What we learned

  • 📁 Effective use of Git/GitHub for collaboration
  • 🐞 Debugging full-stack issues
  • 🔒 Best practices for authentication and session management
  • 🔁 Frontend-to-backend integration techniques

What's next for MedSave

We plan to expand MedSave’s functionality with:

  • 🔍 More advanced filtering (by radius, drug brand, etc.)
  • 📬 Alerts for nonprofits when needed medications become available
  • 📊 Dashboards with analytics and request tracking
  • 🧱 Upgrade to a scalable backend (e.g., PostgreSQL)
  • ✅ Verification & incentive systems to promote responsible listings

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