Tulsa World: OU pharmacy student shakes up medications

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OU pharmacy student shakes up medications

OU-Tulsa Pharmacy student Chad Harrison displays SymptomPak, a product he developed. It has five separate bottles of medicine to treat five different symptoms instead of the traditional combination of drugs in one product. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World

By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer
Published: 11/21/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 11/21/2009 4:34 AM

Chad Harrison envisions a day when the medicine aisle isn't filled with a plethora of combination products such as treatments for cold and sinus, flu and cough, or cough and cold.

Harrison, a 30-year-old fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, has developed a product called SymptomPak. It has five separate bottles of medicine to treat five different symptoms instead of the traditional combination of drugs in one product.

He said he's already selling SymptomPak to Reasor's, L&L Pharmacy and Gore Drug, and hopes to have it on the shelves of national chains soon.

SymptomPak is a simple idea, Harrison said, and he was surprised that he was the first to apply for a patent on the concept.

"I don't know why no one has done this before," he said. "It makes sense to me that you might want just the medicines to treat the symptoms you have."

The five-bottle SymptomPak includes a pain reliever and medicines to treat nasal and sinus congestion, coughs, chest congestion, as well as one for runny noses, sneezing and itchy, watery eyes.

The current market for over-the-counter drugs focuses on combination medicines to combat different ailments, like the flu or allergies, said Jack Coffey, a former assistant dean of the pharmacy program at OU-Tulsa who has been advising Harrison on his project.

"I thought it was a good idea, and I encouraged him to do something with it," Coffey said.

Harrison said some industry professionals he has consulted think his concept could strike at the heart of the cold medicine empire and replace the myriad of drugs occupying medicine cabinets.

SymptomPak is made up of five common medicines, such as acetaminophen or cough-suppressant dextromethorphan. Most can be found individually at common drug stores.

But Harrison said the key is packaging the medicines together and offering easy dosage instructions. For any treatment in the package, patients need only take two pills every four hours.

"We wanted to make it as easy as possible," he said. "That's the only way we would be able to sell this thing."

Getting the idea for SymptomPak off the ground hasn't been a fly-by-night operation for Harrison. He started three years ago by contacting manufacturers and trying to get investors.

Harrison said he, some friends and family put together an initial investment of nearly $200,000 to get 13,000 units of SymptomPak made. That doesn't include the loans Harrison has taken out to get his pharmacist doctorate.

"I had to promise my wife this would work before we put anything into it," he said.

Harrison finally found an investor in Florida to help with marketing, and he has been paying Web site designers in company stock.

The biggest stumbling block so far, Harrison said, is SymptomPak's retail price of $29, which he hopes will come down once it gets into mass production.

"But it's the last box of cold medicine you'll ever need to buy, so it's worth the price," he said.

Kyle Arnold 581-8380
kyle.arnold@tulsaworld.com By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer

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Aggie, (11/22/2009 3:50:15 PM)

As a pharmacy student, he ought to know that dextromethorphan doesn't work worth a darn.

Good businessman, though.

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