Founder of PRIME-Med Solutions, Simbiso Maphosa, a senior Biomedical Engineering student at Bucknell University pitched her product, PRIME-Air at the 2023 Bucknell BizPitch competition on April 10. The BizPitch competition is an annual competition where student entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas in "shark tank" style to a panel of judges. In the event broadcasted live on WVIA and YouTube, PRIME-Air competed against Uncharted, an app designed to give unknown musical artists a platform to share content, Allergy Aid, an app for people with food allergies to get some reassurance when they dine away from home, and GeoRef, an app designed for sports leagues to integrate schedules for teams and referees to get everyone on the same page.
Simbi has spent close to 2 years developing PRIME-Air , a portable, non-electric, cost effective nebulizer that provides effective asthma treatment and is specifically designed for use in low resource and underserved communities. Her product was inspired by her grandmother's experience who struggled with asthma and did not have access to effective asthma treatment.
"I was around 13 years old when she had a severe asthma attack that almost took her life. My grandmother's struggle with asthma highlighted to me the challenges that patients living in low-resource and underserved areas face when it comes to accessing quality, life saving, medical devices."
Simbi has been developing her product with guidance for Bucknell faculty in the Biomedical and Chemical Engineering department. She has partnered with physicians and asthma patients in her native country of Zimbabwe. PRIME-Air has undergone rigorous preliminary testing to ensure that design requirements and specifications are met and Simbi is excited to continue optimizing the current prototype, initiate the regulation processes and move forward with commercializing the product.
"Prime-air is going to change the healthcare narrative for patients with asthma in low-resource and underserved communities."
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