A digital platform makes donating surplus medicines to vulnerable populations in Brazil easier

In 2019, poverty, limited public budgets and weaknesses in health management meant about 15 million people in Brazil did not have access to essential medicines (Coube et al., 2023; Leal, Adriana Amorim de Farias et al., 2023). The same issue affects a third of people around the world (WHO). At the same time, industries, distributors and pharmaceutical retailers send about 8,000 tons of unexpired medicines worth 700 million euros to be incinerated each year, which frees 20,000 tons of CO₂.

Pharmaceutical companies are aware of the problem and are ready to donate them, but two major obstacles stand in their way: regulatory risks related to managing donations (storage, dispensing and elimination in conformity with health and environmental standards, fraud prevention), and their fiscal cost. This is because incineration is still tax-deductible despite law 15.279/2025 introducing tax incentives to making donations, with 34% tax still applied to the value of the donation. Prorede3 provides a platform to counter this problem, which makes donations secure, traces them to the patient and provides precise socio-environmental metrics, turning waste into an opportunity for 20 million vulnerable Brazilians.

To manage donations, Prorede3 has developed a digital platform with three key functions: a marketplace to put those donating into contact with verified philanthropic institutions (hospitals, charity clinics, NGOs), a system to monitor each product digitally until it reaches the patient, and a precise impact report module with socio-environmental metrics (number of beneficiaries, CO₂ avoided, value of products actually dispensed).

The solution covers all pharmaceutical and over-the-counter health and wellness product categories (controlled medicines, those that are prescribed or not, supplements, hygiene/cosmetics). To reduce risks for donors, a structured process accredits partner institutions in Prorede3: health licenses, professional authorization and environmental licenses are checked, and a digital contract is signed before they are listed on the platform.

A semi-automated prototype already operates with a returning customer. In 18 months, 36,402 people have benefited from it, 37,496 products worth 150,000 euros have been donated and 638 kg of CO₂ has not been emitted, at a cost of less than 2 euros per beneficiary. The pilot preparatory grant will finance automating the marketplace, developing an AI system to process partner institution dispensing reports, and strengthening the philanthropic network and relationships with potential donors. The platform will eventually include a "blockchain" layer to guarantee full traceability and auditability for each donation.

The preparation phase aims to lay the operational and technological foundations a larger scale pilot requires. The main deliverables are:

• Automating the marketplace to match donation offers with institutions' needs efficiently, instead of the current manual entry.
• Implementing a multi-agent AI system that can automatically extract and standardize hospital medication dispensing reports, reducing operational bottlenecks.
• Expanding the philanthropic network to 180 accredited institutions, 120 of which are authorized to dispense medications;
• Establishing 4 pilots with pharmaceutical companies, by defining the scope, technical methods and contractual obligations.
• Designing a monitoring and assessment plan focused on reducing inequalities in accessing medicines, with operational indicators, segmentation approaches (gender, age, priority pathologies) and data collection methods suited to partner institution capacities.
• Drawing up an advocacy plan to get public opinion on board and support changing the legislative framework, to make donations more fiscally advantageous.

In the short term (the end of 2026), Prorede3 aims to have 3 to 6 donor clients and 100,000 beneficiaries via 250 institutions. In 10 years, 100 donor companies could help 1 million people, while avoiding the emission of 500 tons of CO2.