Greg Volynsky
ProVita Pharmaceuitals: VitaClick
What Is ProVita?
What is VitaClick?
At Bergen Academies, every Wednesday, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors have two hours of a class called 'projects'; this is basically an extended elective period, with students choosing which project they want to take every semester. ProVita Pharmaceuticals was developed during project time; it is a student-run organization with one main teacher advisor.
ProVita is a startup biotechnology firm with a platform technology aimed toward extending longevity and efficacy of medication and treatments. I began working at ProVita my sophomore year, and by junior year, I became the Head of Project Development of the VitaClick.
VitaClick is a project with both product and service elements which aims to make self-injection epinephrine pens significantly more affordable. Currently, all auto injection epinephrine pens are one use and require the user to buy two new pens every year, as the epinephrine degrades. A pack of two epipens costs upwards of $500. Students developing the VitaClick project are designing a better cartridge which delays the degradation of epinephrine, allowing the pen to last longer. Furthermore, VitaClick plans to provide a service to replace the cartridge when the epinephrine does degrade, hence making buying a whole new pen unnecessary. As the user only has to buy one auto injector pen, the user must pay only a fraction of the current annual cost.
My Role
I am currently the Head of Project Development at VitaClick. Together, we are planning an experiment to test the effect of an enzyme called Superoxide Dismutase on the degradation of Epinephrine, designing a reusable pen, and, perhaps most importantly, expanding the business aspect of this project. We plan to carry out the initial stages of this experiment this year.
Under my supervision, we have presented to a group of distinguished scientists and pharmaceutical company board members. Their reactions have been very encouraging, and their comments and ideas have propelled VitaClick above and beyond.