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Former Yale University students are making it easier to spot counterfeit drugs. Per TechCrunch, Adebayo Alonge, Amy Kao and Wei Lui launched healthcare startup RxAll in 2016. The inception of the company was in response to their own experience with counterfeit drugs. For Alonge, it was nearly fatal after he took a medicine that contained a dangerous amount of diazepam, while Kao’s experience left her hospitalized. “I survived a 21-day coma in Nigeria 15 years ago. My co-founder, Amy, was hospitalized in Thailand after taking counterfeit medicine. And Wei lost a family member due to contaminated drugs,” Alonge told TechCrunch. While students they were able to pick each other’s brains during a research and development project and found further information to validate their concerns. “100,000 Africans die from this problem every year. One million people die across the world from this problem,” Alonge mentioned . This led to RxAll’s inaugural product RxScanner, a device powered by...
Carmelo Anthony has launched a cannabis brand that will allocate a portion of its profits towards a good cause. Forbes reports the 10-time NBA All-Star player is launching StayMe7o Cannabis under Grand National, a cannabis-focused agency created in partnership with Lowd Cannabis’ CEO and Founder Jesce Horton and Chief Creative Director Brandon Drew Jordan Pierce. Anthony had connected with Horton when he first moved to Portland, OR, through a mutual friend. “We understand what the value proposition is,” Anthony told Forbes . “I grew up on the Grand National car, we just wanted to tap into something that was very timeless, combining the businesses of all three of us and what we bring to the table.” As for his motivation to enter into the cannabis sector, it was a culmination of remaining a student within the industry over several years and firsthand experience for sports recovery purposes. Among his chosen products were tinctures, CBD formulations, and topicals — all tailored to...
Amazon Pharmacy — which launched in 2020 — has signed off on a new partnership to provide more accessibility to cheaper drugs. According to The Verge, the company is offering a new program where Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance customers can pay less out-of-pocket for their prescriptions. As of now, the drug discount card is available for Blue customers in New Jersey, Nebraska, Alabama, Florida, and Kansas.
Lack of accessibility to essentials for everyday living is often the story behind the downfall of systems around the globe. For instance, Nigeria is the home of some of the world’s brightest minds, but significant setbacks include its healthcare system, which impedes its citizens from seeking to live fruitful lives. However, healthcare should be a human right, and this is what pushed DrugStoc co-founders Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia to create what is now Africa’s leading health tech platform. Their platform serves as a tech-enabled solution that combats the continent’s broken pharmaceutical supply chains through connecting drug store companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria. Before launching DrugStoc, Opara and Yehia founded Integra Health, a hospital management company, which paved the way for their discovery of how tech could break barriers within the pharmaceutical market. “It was quite a black box what tech could do,” Yehia told AfroTech. “We came from the health...
The African continent has experienced severe challenges in its pharmaceutical supply chains for decades leaving many people without access to medication. TechCrunch reports, “In response, the co-founders created and piloted a tech-based platform in 2015 linking manufacturers with distributors. This plan failed to take-off as it immediately became clear that a platform alone would not suffice.” In 2017, the outlet reports, those co-founders Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia launched DrugStoc officially to connect drug store companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria. The new model, however, proved to be successful due to new infrastructures such as fulfillment centers and warehouses to facilitate orders, packaging, shipment of products, and customer support units. Since its inception, the e-health drug procurement platform has delivered pharmaceutical products to 100 million people and has connected 400 manufacturers to 3,200 doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. The company plans...
Amazon has been known to take over multiple sectors in the world of e-commerce, but some may not have saw this next move coming. Soon Amazon Prime members will be eligible for two-day delivery of medications and price cuts on both brand-name and generic drugs as they will be available for purchase through Amazon’s main website. According to Business Insider , customers will be able to type their insurance information and select payment options in a “pharmacy profile.” Those same prime members will be able to get up to 80 percent in discounts on generic drugs and 40 percent on brand-name medications when they pay without insurance, Business Insider reports. “As more and more people look to complete everyday errands from home, pharmacy is an important and needed addition to the Amazon online store,” said Amazon’s senior vice president of North America consumer, Doug Herrington, in a statement. This is the company’s most recent push into healthcare. In 2018, Amazon purchased the small...
Christina Betancourt Johnson has made history in the cannabis sector. The Washington, DC, native with 15 years of experience as an executive — per Honeysuckle magazine — is the founder and CEO of Standard Wellness Maryland, which launched in 2019. The company had an interest in catering to consumers as well as patients looking for premium products for their medicine. Its offerings include flowers, topicals, tinctures, vapes, and concentrates, its website mentions. At the heart of S tandard Wellness Maryland’s lies a mission t o ensure there is greater representation in the cannabis industry, and this became part of Johnson’s call to action to drive equity in partnership with Rooted Therapeutics, her first company. Benzinga reports that Standard Wellness Maryland’s existence is historic as it is the first v ertically integrated cannabis company in the United States majority-owned by an African American and Latina, according to the social equity office in Maryland. It is licensed to...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. On February 1st, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on America’s biggest trade partners: Mexico, Canada, and China. Canada and Mexico were supposed to face a 25% tariff, while China received a 10% tax. In response, Canada, Mexico, and China announced that they would retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on American goods. On February 10, China will hit the US with a 15% tariff on coal and a 10% tariff on crude oil, farm equipment, and some vehicles. The Trump administration has prioritized tariffs as a key policy focus, despite warnings from economic experts about their potential negative impact on the economy. Many voters supported Trump due to his economic promises, but since taking office, several of his policy decisions have contributed to rising costs of living. As of last week, tariffs on Canada and Mexico have been postponed until March, as both countries...
A Black-owned pharmacy has opened in Toledo, OH. After seeing health disparities within communities during his residency with Kroger, pharmacist Anthony Pattin was driven to provide better access to underserved citizens. At the time, Pattin had already completed an undergraduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a PharmD from the University of Toledo, Toledo Blade reports. “One of my first projects was looking at African-Americans’ perceptions of vaccines,” he told the outlet. “I learned a lot. One thing is, not everyone feels the same way. I had a group of people who wanted vaccines but said ‘As a matter of fact, when I go to the pharmacy, they don’t offer it,’ and that’s how I found out that there are some pharmacies, even in their community, that didn’t offer that service. So that was a disparity — that you were saying that maybe they don’t want the service, but they don’t have it available.” While Pattin took note, the idea for a pharmacy was catalyzed by an elderly neighbor...
If you’re tuned in to the world of early 2000s hip hop , or the world of modern Belizean politics, you may already be familiar with the name Shyne Barrow. The former rapper and current Opposition Party leader in Belize’s House of Representatives has one of the most fascinating backstories in all of pop culture and politics. Though he may not be as well known as his contemporaries like Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z, Shyne’s story is finally being told with the recent release of the Hulu original “The Honorable Shyne,” which dropped on the streamer earlier this month. In the documentary, Shyne outlines the untold truth about his time laboring under Bad Boy Records , his lengthy incarceration and his pivot into politics within his home country. Given that the 46-year-old politician has led such a storied life, fans are justifiably wondering about other personal details, including his net worth, investment portfolio and various streams of income. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, with a quick...
Unless you were born yesterday, you surely have at least some awareness of iconic 20th century musician Elvis Presley. Even if the King of Rock and Roll has no place on your Spotify Wrapped , you’ve surely heard your fair share of hit songs, catchphrases and impersonations over the years. The singer, often known by his first name alone, was responsible for revolutionizing the landscape of music throughout the 1950s and beyond, enthralling millions of listeners around the globe with his hypnotic blend of provocative dance moves and infectious vocal inflections. Today, his musical stylings are obviously quite dated, though it can’t be overstated just how much Elvis Presley propelled the culture of rock and roll into the mainstream. Though the singer has been deceased for nearly half a century, his legacy still lives on to this day, largely in the form of music biopics like 2022’s Elvis and the recently released Netflix documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis...
Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne is gaining traction in the investment world for her medical device known as the “Band-Aid for nosebleeds.” As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Dr. Clayborne is the founder of NasaClip, which was inspired by her time in residency in Washington, DC. Various patients were coming into the emergency room for an issue professionals in the medical field described as a “lower acuity issue.” “Nosebleeds are most common in kids age 2 to 10, older adults 55 to 80, who might be on blood thinners, it’s really the least likely population to manage it well. So when they can’t get that bleeding to stop, they show up to me in the ER, and they want me to treat them right away. They’re bleeding all over the waiting room demanding to be seen. But for us as ER docs, this is a lower acuity issue, but it happens to be really kind of time-consuming and cumbersome to deal with,” she said over a Zoom webinar held on Oct. 31, 2024. She continued, “I was frustrated as a resident. Often...