Wantagh's Daniel Charytonowicz chases entrepreneurial dreams with JADE Biotech

2016 Jul 28

The team that created JADE Biotech seeks to address a uniquely troubling problem plaguing hospital pharmacies: How to dispose of the narcotics that remain after a medical procedure, and how to deter the theft of those leftovers.

Their solution is a biosensor that can verify a person's identity as well as the concentration and volume of all narcotic waste entering the system.

Wantagh, N.Y.'s Daniel Charytonowicz, who recently graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in biomedical engineering, launched the company with fellow UD grads John Lowman and Elizabeth Soulas.

The JADE Biotech team has contacted hospital pharmacies throughout all 50 states to meet potential customers and research the current needs of the market.

"The important thing is figuring out the problem, what people want, and then forming a solution around that," Charytonowicz added. "If there's no problem, then there's no business."

The team got off the ground by winning $16,800 from UD's Hen Hatch and earning a grant from the National Science Foundation's I-Corps Sites Program.

JADE Biotech is currently in the midst of the Summer Founders Program, a 12-week long pre-accelerator used to validate members' business ideas.

The Summer Founders Program, administered by the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, provides students with stipends while they work to develop their ventures. It also offers weekly mentoring and educational sessions, progress meetings with philanthropic investors and access to free and discounted services at the Horn Program's Venture Development Center.