Student Startup Aims to Provide Arthritis Relief
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe winning students from this year’s Innovate WithIN pitch competition say their first place idea came from a desire to help members of their community and families who suffer from arthritis. The students from Hobart High School took the top prize last month for The Remedy Glove, which uses vibration, compression and heat to give relief to those with arthritis. Megan Jones, Joshua Breitsprecher, and Abigale Haluska founded A.M. Therapeutics to further develop their idea.
The students explained their idea in a recent interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.
“Our main goal was to make something that was mobile, affordable and accessible to our loved ones, so they can just pick it up at the drug store instead of getting a prescription,” said Jones, chief operating officer of A.M. Therapeutics.
Breitsprecher, chief marketing officer, says developing The Remedy Glove began with several challenges.
“It was definitely difficult at the start because none of us were really qualified; we didn’t really see ourselves as up to par with anyone who really runs a business. We’re just high school students in a senior engineering class,” he said. “So a lot of the beginning of the year was taking in information, gathering information together, teaching ourselves new things and growing before we could execute any plans for our idea.”
Haluska, who serves as chief executive officer of A.M. Therapeutics, says the startup is continuing development and manufacturing of The Remedy Glove with the goal of beginning product sales in the next year. She says early response to the idea has been positive.
“Through social media, we’ve had a lot of people give us inquiries and express interest in our glove. With that, we hope to maintain their interest while we continue progressing and making this the most perfect glove we can,” said Haluska.
The pitch competition was forced to switch to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tina Hafer, product partner for Indianapolis-based Innovatemap and judge in the Innovate WithIN finals, said the switch went well.
“I was extremely impressed by one, the fact that all of these teams were able to transition to an online competition seamlessly. The competition itself was very smooth. The presenters were extremely polished and professional and it not only gave me hope, but it gave me confidence in the state’s ability to produce some incredible entrepreneurs and incredible ideas that are really, I’m sure, going to be incredibly successful as they take these forward.”
Breitsprecher and Haluska are both heading to Purdue University to seek a degree in engineering while Jones will be attending Ball State University as a nursing major.
You can learn more about The Remedy Glove by clicking here.