It is a problem of refrigeration. Almost half of the pharmaceuticals sold in the United States are biologics that must be kept at a specific temperature.

Millions of people worry about properly maintaining their prescription drugs, says Theodora Christopher, who came up with a potentially affordable and reliable solution during an honors seminar at Northeastern. She and Anastasia Mavridis are leading a new venture, SaluTemp, to develop a temperature-sensing device that will provide patients with alerts as well as drug facts, enabling them to safely store and use their medications.

The SaluTemp leaders were surprised that an affordable solution to medication storage hasn’t been addressed in the marketplace. With the assistance of an interdisciplinary group of fellow students and an array of Northeastern academic advisers that includes Christa DhimoHolly JimisonMisha Pavel, and Laurie Bishop, they’re hoping to limit the price of their product to $60 in order to make it affordable to low-income users.

“We’re not in it for the money, which is not the traditional entrepreneurial mindset,” Christopher says. “Our priority is: How do we help the most people?”

 

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