RxTran Awarded Second U.S. Patent for Technology That Lets Pharmacists Verify a Translation They Cannot Read

Second patent extends verified, near-real-time prescription translation beyond the pharmacy label to hospital discharge and emergency instructions

BOSTON, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Language Scientific a second patent covering RxTran's Transduction technology, the system that lets a pharmacist confirm a translation is correct even when they cannot read the language it is written in. Patent US 12,602,554, "Systems and Methods for Producing Reliable Translation in Near Real-Time," was granted April 14, 2026, and is assigned to Language Scientific.

The patent protects a process that free machine translation and consumer AI tools cannot match. The system produces a prescription translation and verifies it is correct before it reaches the patient.

"Fast translation and verifiable translation aren't the same thing. A free tool can give you a Vietnamese sentence in a second, but no one at the counter can tell you whether it's safe to hand to a patient. We built this so the pharmacist stays in control. They can confirm the result in their own language before it ever reaches the patient," said Leonid Fridman, Founder and President of Language Scientific and RxTran, and the patent's inventor.

How can a pharmacist verify a translation they can't read?

RxTran's approach doesn't ask a pharmacist to read the target language. It breaks the source directions into semantic structures and organizes them into a semantic tree, then matches that tree against a controlled library of pre-translated phrases. The pharmacist approves the meaning in English first, and the system returns the pre-verified translation. A pharmacist who speaks only English can confirm that a Vietnamese label says the right thing.

Why can't a pharmacy just double-check a free translation?

A common way to check a free translation is to translate the result back into English and confirm it matches the original. This method is unreliable. These tools are trained on matched sentence pairs, so a translation converted back into English often returns the original wording even when the version the patient receives is incorrect. A wrong translation can be worse than none at all because a patient handed instructions in their own language treats them as authoritative and stops looking for someone to help.

What's new in this second patent?

The second patent adds three capabilities to the process the first patent established. A correction loop lets the pharmacist reject the versions the system offers and submit revised wording, which it re-processes into a new semantic tree. The first patent produced choices. This one lets the pharmacist adjust the input and resubmit. Six claims cover machine-learning models that identify portions of text and match them to stored phrases, then rank the best candidates. This is the only place AI operates, and its role is bounded: it can suggest additional English paraphrases for the pharmacist to consider, but it never generates the translation. Every translation the system returns comes from the pre-verified library, so AI cannot introduce an error into what the patient receives. Two further claims cover speech input, letting a pharmacist dictate directly into the interface.

Why does this matter for patients with limited English?

Over 28 million U.S. residents have limited English proficiency, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In a study of more than 400,000 hospitalized adults, those patients had 33% higher odds of readmission within seven days than English-proficient patients, even after adjusting for clinical and demographic factors.

Federal guidance under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act states that machine translation of critical documents must be reviewed by a qualified human translator. A pharmacy that pastes directions into a free translation tool and prints what comes back has not met that standard. RxTran's method is built to meet it. Five states now regulate prescription language access, and Washington's rule, WAC 246-945-029, takes effect Jan. 22, 2027, with no limit on which languages a patient may request.

"For years now, we've given patients with limited English proficiency the ability to understand how to take their medicines. What this patent protects is the part that matters most – a pharmacy's ability to stand behind every translation it hands out," said Sharon Blank, Chief Executive Officer of Language Scientific and RxTran.

What does the patent cover beyond the prescription label?

The patent claims a method, not a product line. Its scope reaches past the prescription label to hospital discharge instructions, hospital-to-patient communications, and emergency evacuation instructions. RxTran's patent focuses on the underlying method wherever verified translation is required.

Have the translations been validated by licensed pharmacists?

Yes. RxTran's library holds more than one million pre-translated SIGs (the directions for use that appear on a label) across 26 languages. Every one passes a five-step quality control review: a forward translation, an independent edit, a back translation into English, a reconciliation of the back translation against the English source, and final approval by a licensed bilingual pharmacist.

Which pharmacy systems does RxTran work with?

RxTran integrates with all the known pharmacy software and data partners used across independent and chain pharmacies, including Best Computer Systems, Computer-Rx, Datascan, En-Vision, Foundation Systems, Gold Standard/Elsevier, Liberty Software, PDX Enterprise Pharmacy System, QS/1, Rx30, ScriptPro, Speed Script, and SRS Pharmacy Systems. Pharmacies without an integrated system can reach translations through RxTran's web platform.

An upcoming RxTran white paper will examine why unverified machine translation falls short of the standard that patient safety and Section 1557 require.

About RxTran

RxTran is a division of Language Scientific, Inc., the clinical, medical, and scientific language specialists. RxTran's patented Transduction technology (U.S. patents 11,836,454 and 12,602,554) provides pharmacist-verified prescription medication labeling in 26 languages (soon to be 30 languages). For more information visit www.rxtran.com or www.languagescientific.com.

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SOURCE RxTran