Christopher Lee, Benjamin Maimon, and Ho-Jun Suk, doctoral candidates in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program (expected 2018), teamed up after meeting in 2.75 (Medical Device Design), an engineering class led by Professor Alexander Slocum. Together, they devised an improved platform to help patients mix, dose, and inject therapeutics that are delivered in powdered form.
Christopher and Benjamin were both especially attracted to MIT for its entrepreneurship resources —a significant criterion for choosing where to enroll for graduate education. They led their team to quickly begin exploring the landscape during their first year as PhD students. Their pathway led them to various classes across MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT Media Lab, which enabled them to further develop their novel idea. They augmented their experience by spending time in student clubs such as MIT Hacking Medicine and Sloan Healthcare Club. They bootstrapped funding by participating in programs and competitions, including VentureWell, MIT-China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum, IDEAS Global Challenge, and MassChallenge. Collaborating with students across campus even led to meeting Babak Movassaghi, a 2014 MIT Sloan Fellow, who has joined their board.
Since launching, Recon Therapeutics has garnered numerous accolades for their LyoKit Disposable Reconstitution System. The new patent-pending drug delivery technology couples a standard 3mL syringe with an external pressurized water chamber, resulting in a one-step reconstitution process that occurs within the syringe directly, which simplifies patient self-administration of biologic drugs. The device is also completely disposable and is designed to function as its own sharps container, mitigating needle safety concerns.
