让良药不再难以下咽

    早在2009年，无论走到哪里，31岁的乔丹•艾森伯格的钱包里总会装着一片苯那君（Benadryl）。这段经历让他逐渐明白，自己应该找一种更好的方式，在发生过敏反应时保证自己的安全。艾森伯格对胡萝卜、花生和其他许多种新鲜水果与蔬菜严重过敏。“把药放在钱包里一点儿不卫生，而且药会掉出来，然后分解，”艾森伯格说。他在科罗拉多州丹佛市创办了UrgentRx，目前担任公司首席执行官。他父亲和朋友也会在钱包里携带阿司匹林，防范心脏病发作。

    他的解决办法是什么？带有味道的粉末，装在信用卡大小的防水包装袋里。这些粉末的味道类似于Pixy Stix糖果棒。要生产出阿司匹林、碳酸钙（用于胃部不适）等普通成药的水果味粉末“并不容易”，艾森伯格道。“我们的药品不是糖果。很难通过微胶囊技术掩盖药品的味道。”

    自今年一月成立以来，UrgentRx公司的粉末已经在美国3,000多家店铺销售。公司的目标是扩展到25,000家药店，包括CVS等大型连锁药店。每一包粉末的建议零售价为1.39美元。

    艾森伯格拥有范德堡大学（Vanderbilt University）的工程学与数学双学位，最初是一位投资银行家，后来开始为著名发明家、专利持有人莫里斯•堪巴工作。堪巴曾发明过蓝天伏特加（Skyy Vodka）和其他知名产品。艾森伯格说：“我一直以为自己想成为一名风险投资人。后来我意识到，创业精神才是一种稀缺货，这才是我应该追求的东西。”

    他在融资过程中通过熟人介绍认识了洛杉矶企业家及投资家兰德尔•卡普兰。卡普兰是阿卡迈技术公司（Akamai Technologies）的联合创始人。

    UrgentRx公司目前已经融资500万美元。两年前，公司向连锁药店和其他销售药品的零售商进行了有限的推广。艾森伯格说：“我们设计了包装，还做了其他改动。我们收到的反馈极为重要。”目前公司有八名员工，刚刚聘请了两位副总裁，分别负责销售和市场营销。

    公司自称粉末状阿司匹林药效比片剂的药效更快，并因此拯救了至少十个人的生命。这些患者当时突发心脏病，服下UrgentRx粉末之后得救。这也是艾森伯格的宣传噱头。他表示，公司产品的另外一个优势在于，无法吞下或难以吞下药片的人群占总人口的6%，而UrgentRx的粉末药就是他们的福音。

    卡普兰在UrgentRx进行了投资，还成为了公司的董事长。目前，他正在帮助公司进行另外一笔250万美元的融资。这笔资金一部分将被用于向更多零售商推广公司的产品。新投资者包括芝加哥金融家山姆•泽尔、演员希拉里•斯万克和购物中心大亨赫伯•西蒙。

    UrgentRx正在学习医学用品和咖啡因产品的创新交付系统，例如维他命水（Vitamin Water）和5小时能量饮料（5-Hour Energy Drink）等。投资者们希望这种小药包能够像上世纪40年代的Alka Seltzer消食片一样，成为家庭药箱中的必需品。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Jordan Eisenberg, 31, was carrying a Benadryl around in his wallet back in 2009 when it dawned on him that he should find a better way to ensure his own safety in case of an allergy attack. He's violently allergic to carrots, peanuts and many other fresh fruits and vegetables. "It's unsanitary, the pills fall out and they disintegrate," says Eisenberg, the chief executive officer of UrgentRx, his Denver, Colorado-based startup. His father and friends also carried aspirin in their wallets in the event of a heart attack.

    His solution? Flavored powder in a credit card-sized, moisture-proof envelope. The powder comes close to emulating the taste of candy products like Pixy Stix. Creating a fruit-flavored powder that could deliver common over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin, calcium carbonate (for upset stomach) and diphenyldramine HCl (for allergy attacks) "wasn't easy," Eisenberg said. "Our drugs aren't candy, it's really hard to mask the taste of medicine through micro-encapsulation."

    Following its launch in January, UrgentRx powders have been sold in 3,000 stores nationwide. The goal is to get them into 25,000 stores, including such major chains as CVS (CVS). Each packet sells for a suggested retail price of $1.39.

    Eisenberg, a double major in engineering and mathematics from Vanderbilt University, originally worked as an investment banker before taking a job with the noted inventor and patent-holder, Maurice Kanbar. Kanbar created Skyy Vodka and other well-known products. "I always thought I wanted to be a venture capitalist," says Eisenberg. "I came to understand that entrepreneurship is a rare commodity, it's what I was meant to do."

    In the process of trying to raise investment capital, a mutual acquaintance introduced him to Randall Kaplan, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and investor who was a co-founder of Akamai Technologies (AKAM).

    UrgentRx, with $5 million in funding, two years ago had a limited rollout to pharmacy chains and other retailers that sell remedies. "We made packaging and other changes," Eisenberg said. "The feedback was incredibly important." The company, which has eight employees, has just hired two vice presidents, one for sales and one for marketing.

    Eisenberg's hook is the claim that the company's powdered aspirin, which it says acts faster than pills, has saved at least ten lives of people who swallowed UrgentRx when they were having a heart attack. Another plus, he says, is that the product is ideal for the estimated 6% of the population that is unable or has difficulty swallowing pills.

    After investing in UrgentRx and becoming the company's chairman, Kaplan is helping to raise another $2.5 million, which will be used in part to finance the marketing of the powders to more retailers. New investors include Sam Zell, the Chicago financier, actress Hillary Swank and Herb Simon, the shopping mall magnate.

    UrgentRx follows on the heels of innovative delivery systems for medicinal products and caffeine, such as Vitamin Water and 5-Hour Energy Drink. The investors are hoping the packets will become a staple of home medicine cabinets—much like Alka Seltzer in the 1940s.