Taking medications -- at home or away from home -- may be made easier as pharmacies use automated packaging, a U.S. company says.

By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Apr. 10--DURHAM -- Parata Systems, a manufacturer of robotic pharmacy equipment, has bought technology from a California company to make self-serve machines that could dispense prescription drugs to patients.

Jul. 7--Parata Systems, whose rapid-fire expansion from 50 to 279 employees over the past year made it one of the Triangle's most promising young companies, has fallen off the fast track and laid off 24 percent of its work force.