Westlake High entrepreneurs headed to national championship

Student entrepreneurs in Westlake High School’s Business Incubator classes have produced a lot of winning ideas, showcased at the end of each school year during a competition called “Pitch Night.”

This year’s school winner is a team of juniors and seniors who created an app and team called “PharmAssist.” They will continue their quest to become the best in the country by competing in the national championship against four other schools on July 13 in Chicago. The contest is sponsored by Uncharted Learning and its INCubatoredu program.

PharmAssist follows in the footsteps of last year’s Westlake team, which won the national high school pitch competition.

During the school year, teammates Andrew Depwe, Parker Steen, Zach Edens, Mason Mireur, Megan Swett and Amaan Rumi worked with entrepreneurial mentor Gary Anderson and class teachers to develop a medication management app to make it easier for users to track medications, medical conditions, health information, allergies, age, weight and more.

The app also provides reminders to take your prescriptions, checks interactions when new medicines are introduced and sends compliance notifications to you, a family circle, or whoever is designated.

The intention is to make users feel confident and safe about taking their medications, especially helpful for elderly people, those with chronic conditions, those going through drug rehabilitation therapy and low-income families with less access to doctors.

“Medication non-adherence for patients with chronic diseases is extremely common, affecting as many as 40% to 50% of patients who are prescribed medications for management of chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension," according to a study published by the National Institute of Health. "This nonadherence … is thought to cause at least 100,000 preventable deaths and $100 billion in preventable medical costs per year.”

“The idea for PharmAssist originated when teammate Megan Swett and her mother, an emergency room doctor, were having a despairing conversation about the dangers of unintentional drug overdose," Depwe said. "Swett’s mom had seen the situation replay again and again in the hospital and wanted to prevent it … so we ran with the idea, searching for exactly what Americans needed to ensure their safety.”

One of the incubator class teachers, Lindsey Stokes, called the team's idea ambitious.

"They faced many roadblocks throughout the discovery process, but never let that deter them," she said. "They deserve every ounce of success they are experiencing. I’m so proud of this team.”

Stokes said their win is a great example of what can happen when students take advantage of all the lessons, community volunteers and industry specialists who are introduced to them. She welcomes more community members to become coaches and asked those interested to email her at lstokes@eanesisd.net.

Anderson, the students’ mentor, said he reviewed many possible teams to coach, but decided this was one of quality, and compatible with his background in pharmaceutical development. “I knew it would be a great fit.”

He said he is also familiar with bringing new technology to the marketplace, something his team would need.

If the team wins the national competition, the prize is $10,000. Anderson believes they will “secure an IP address associated with their vision and then leverage that vision and intellectual position into funding the launch of a new company.”

The students have formed a strong bond since teaming up.

“We were strangers when we started but are close friends now," said Depwe. "We didn’t want to choose a group with people we already knew, but rather create an entirely new atmosphere with a wide variety of personalities, skills and creativity. This has led to much success as a team in the business world.

"We have learned not only the business side of entrepreneurship, but also the soft skills applicable when meeting with consultants, presenting to large crowds and handling disagreements between team members.”

The team invites public comments and ideas for inclusion in the app though its Instagram account at  @pharm_assistrx or through its QR code.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Westlake High entrepreneurs headed to national championship