Team:UGent2 Belgium/Implementation

Proposed implementation

Pitch

Our pearl is not meant to be a drug. We primarily do not want to sell it via pharmacies. We profile the product as a food supplement that serves as an alternative treatment for patients that are not responding to the currently available drugs. It is an alternative for antidepressants. As the WHO considers depression and anxiety as the world's leading cause of disability, we believe that the potential pool of end-users is immense.


Future Perspective

Of course, the Bubbly pearl is not an end phase. There are a lot of possible combinations to make with the pearl. We can combine the prebiotic properties of our product with other foods as probiotics like yogurt and kombucha. This is an added value to these probiotic foods, whereas we create one single product with prebiotic, probiotic, anti-inflammatory effects, which is vitamin-rich at the same time. All these properties will probably be beneficial in the effectiveness of the intestinal microbiome modulation. By collaborating with companies in certain probiotic foods, we can envision other parties in our vision and simultaneously make brand awareness for Bubbly.

To prevent the product's overconsumption, we wish to implement a restrictive system that needs to control Bubbly pearl consumption. We thought of a phone app that records the pearl purchases. Besides that, the app should alert the consumer and should restrict the purchase of more products. This could already create the first measure in preventing overconsumption. Different ethical questions will arise with a control system as this app. A key question will be: "What will happen with all the generated data?" We considered this amongst others in our integrated Human Practices.

We think that the first consumption must be preceded by appointment with a medical doctor, pharmacologist, psychologist, or psychiatrist. The (psychological) health specialist should introduce the user to our product and inform them extensively about its functionality and how to consume it properly. These first conversations will be necessary to have the possibility of accessing our product. Using the app and an 'introductory' appointment with a professional should be the defense line against possible misuse of our product.

We believe that our Bubbly pearl can be an excellent alternative for the antidepressants that are now available. At this phase, we cannot claim a lot of positive effects. We first have to test and further improve the product before we can bring it to the market.
Only then will we be prepared to save lives!