Written by Donna C. Gregory
As the saying goes, sometimes necessity truly does become the mother of invention—at least that’s the case for the following Virginia innovators turned entrepreneurs. They each came up with a solution to address an everyday health concern, and are now bringing their products to market. Here are their stories.
Carter Kostler & his parents, Carla and Mark Weisman | Virginia Beach
Product: Define Bottle
Water may be necessary to sustain life, but let’s face it: Over time, the taste of water can become pretty boring. Enter Carter Kostler, a 14-year-old Virginia Beach teen who has created a new bottle that will literally add a little zest to plain old water.
The Define Bottle is a new fruit-infused water bottle, inspired by Carter’s mom, Carla Weisman.
“My mom was really into spa water,” says Carter. “Every morning, she would make these great drinks [by adding fresh fruit to water] in these giant pitchers. I began to realize that when she went outside of the house, she couldn’t bring that with her because the pitcher is ginormous. I thought how could I make spa water portable?”
Carter made a few sketches, and took his idea to his parents. The result is the Define Bottle, which has separate chambers for water and fresh fruit, allowing users to drink spa water on the go.
After months of working with a patent attorney, industrial design company and a branding firm, Kostler and his parents, Carla and Mark Weisman, are now preparing for their first production run of 5,000 bottles. There will be two models: the Define Bottle Classic, crafted from glass and bamboo, and the Define Bottle Sport, made from BPA-free Eastman Tritan, a plastic-like copolyester.
The bottles will be sold online at definebottle.com and at resorts, spas and specialty retailers for about $35.
“Since we launched on Facebook, the feedback has been incredible,” says Carla. “We have been bombarded with people from Sweden, India and Africa [among others] that are looking to resell [the Define Bottle]. It’s gone global really fast. … We’re very enthusiastic at this point. We already feel like there’s a lot of buzz, and the product hasn’t even been manufactured yet.”
The Define Bottle should be available for purchase by the end of the year.
Learn more: www.definebottle.com
Eric & Evan Edwards | Richmond
Product: Auvi-Q Injector
According to the Centers for Disease Control, food allergies increased by 18 percent between 1997 and 2007, and peanut allergies among children tripled during the same timeframe.
Chesterfield County natives and twin brothers Eric and Evan Edwards are all too familiar with those startling statistics since both grew up with life-threatening allergies to nuts, seafood and eggs.
“As such, we had an appreciation for the need for innovative epinephrine injectors,” says Evan, vice president of product development at Intelliject, a Richmond-based specialty pharmaceutical company.
Due to the cumbersome size of most epinephrine injectors on the market, the twins frequently traveled without their life-saving devices—a move that could have had deadly consequences.
As adults, the brothers founded Intelliject with the intention of developing a compact, easy-to-use injector for severe allergy sufferers. The invention ultimately morphed into the Auvi-Q, which according to Intelliject’s website, is “the first and only compact auto-injector with audio and visual cues that guide patients and caregivers step-by-step through the injection process.”
“In developing Auvi-Q, our goal is to offer patients and caregivers an innovative treatment option that is easy to use in an emergency,” says Eric, Intelliject’s chief science officer. “As allergy sufferers, [Evan and I] know firsthand how stressful it can be when you experience a severe allergic reaction. Auvi-Q’s small size and intuitive design, as well as its first-in-class prompt system that talks a user through the injection process, will help patients and caregivers manage a life-threatening allergic reaction.”
Auvi-Q received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last August. Sanofi U.S. is expected to begin manufacturing and marketing the device in the U.S. and Canada within a few months.
Learn more: www.auvi-q.com
Ed & Ann-Marie Stephens | Richmond
Product: Precise Portions Dinnerware
Low carb or low fat? Weight Watchers or South Beach? With so many diet plans gorging today’s marketplace, it’s hard to decide which is best. Now, consumers have an easier option. Precise Portions, a Richmond-based company, has developed a portion-control dinnerware collection that takes the guesswork out of weight management.
The collection was developed by chemical engineers Ed and Ann-Marie Stephens after three of Ed’s siblings were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In 2007, the couple founded typefreediabetes.com, an online store that focuses on products to help diabetics live healthier. While seeking out merchandise for their website, the couple soon realized there were very few tools on the market to help people manage portion sizes at home.
“Most of the solutions before showed a fist or a deck of cards as visual cues of what a serving should look like,” explains Ann-Marie. “It wasn’t that clear.”
The couple partnered with a team of registered dieticians to develop Precise Portions, a line of portion-control dinnerware that’s based on the “plate method” of eating, recommended by the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The method essentially divides a dinner plate into three sections—half is filled with non-starchy vegetables, a quarter is designated for grains and the remaining quarter is for lean protein.
“We’ve developed the most comprehensive nutrition-control system ever designed,” says Ann-Marie. “It’s a portion-control solution for every meal, for every occasion. There’s no guesswork. It’s a seamless solution.”
Precise Portions plates come with decorative lines, indicating the placement for each food category. Bowls also have lines, so users won’t over pour their morning cereal or overindulge an ice-cream craving. Cups come with 4-ounce and 8-ounce lines to help users limit their liquid calories.
The Stephenses wanted their dinnerware collection to be stylish and appropriate for entertaining, so all items are made from porcelain with a colorful design. A compostable, disposable line also is under development and will be available in time for the holidays. Precise Portions is currently available at preciseportions.com, brookstone.com and opensky.com.
Learn more: www.preciseportions.com
Ravi Shamaiengar, M.D. | Williamsburg
Product: NapAnywhere Neck Pillow
For Dr. Ravi Shamaiengar, traveling is literally a pain in the neck. Since suffering an injury during his medical residency, the Williamsburg radiologist (and medical editor for The Health Journal) continually struggled with neck pain after napping on long flights and car rides. The standard, stuffed U-shaped neck pillow did little to relieve his symptoms.
In 2011, after waking up yet again with a stiff neck on a flight from Chicago, Shamaiengar used his knowledge of anatomy to design a better option. The result is his patent-pending NapAnywhere neck pillow, an alternative to the large, bulky, unsupportive models currently on the market.
NapAnywhere starts as a flat disc that’s light and portable enough to carry in a small bag. The fabric-covered pillow has a moldable frame that users can then bend and customize for their individual comfort. The head rests on a soft, curved platform with a vertical support a vertical support that extends down the neck and molds over the shoulder, distributing the head’s weight across the shoulder.
“Once the shape of the product was designed, most of the engineering went into figuring out the best material for the endoskeleton,” Shamaiengar explains. “The result is an extremely lightweight device that can be molded to an individual’s shape, supporting the weight of their head while they nap, and after use the NapAnywhere can be flattened back to its original portable shape.” Shamaiengar adds, “Once it’s put on correctly, you barely know it’s there.”
Shamaiengar is currently working with a manufacturing company to develop the final NapAnywhere prototypes and manufacturing processes. He is currently developing a KickStarter campaign to gauge interest in his product and accept pre-orders.
“We hope to have it to market by early next year,” Shamaiengar says. “It’s something near and dear to my heart. I believe in this product. I think it can really help a lot of people.”
Earlier this year, Shamaiengar received some validation that he is on the right track when he was named “Innovator of the Year” at the 2012 Virginia Inventors Forum Expo, where the NapAnywhere made its first public appearance.
—–
Partnership Leads to New Wound Care Alternative
Sometimes it takes a team effort for innovation. Such was the case for Soluble Systems and LifeNet Health, two Hampton Roads companies that have partnered to develop and market a new human skin allograft.
Amputation is one of the most serious—and potentially deadly—risks faced by diabetics. Research reveals that more than 50 percent of diabetic amputees die within five years of their first amputation, a shocking statistic that’s prompted the medical community to look for more effective wound-care remedies.
TheraSkin, developed by LifeNet Health, is giving new hope for the healing of hard-to-treat foot ulcers, often seen in diabetic patients. According to a recent peer-reviewed study involving 188 patients, TheraSkin helped close more than 60 percent of previous “non-healing” ulcers in 12 weeks, usually with just two or
three applications.
“When you have an open sore, that’s a portal for infection. … You can lose a limb, so staving off an amputation is a critical objective of doctors and nurses who are treating patients with chronic wounds,” explains Allan Staley, president of Soluble Systems.
TheraSkin is made from donated human skin tissue, harvested through the national organ donor program according to guidelines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Association of
Tissue Banks.
“What makes TheraSkin different is that it … provides a large quantity of essential human collagens in appropriate ratios to support healing,” says Kerry McCarter, CEO of Soluble Systems. “Because TheraSkin is a biologically active cryopreserved human skin allograft, its fully developed extracellular matrix and living cells provide an ‘at-ready’ supply of human growth factors, cytokines and collagen to jumpstart wound healing.”
TheraSkin is currently marketed and distributed to wound care centers, podiatry offices and vascular surgery offices east of the Mississippi River. Soluble Solutions has plans to expand its sales staff to Texas and surrounding states by the end of this year.