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"By Doron Levin, contributor\nFORTUNE &amp;#8212; Jordan Eisenberg, 31, was carrying a Benadryl around in his wallet back in 2009 when it dawned on him that he should find a better way to ensure his own safety in case of an allergy attack. He\u2019s violently allergic to carrots, peanuts and many other fresh fruits and vegetables. \u201CIt\u2019s unsanitary, the pills fall out and they disintegrate,\u201D says Eisenberg, the chief executive officer of UrgentRx, his Denver, Colorado-based startup. His father and friends also carried aspirin in their wallets in the event of a heart attack.\nHis solution? Flavored powder in a credit card-sized, moisture-proof envelope. The powder comes close to emulating the taste of candy products like Pixy Stix.\u00A0Creating a fruit-flavored powder that could deliver common over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin, calcium carbonate (for upset stomach) and diphenyldramine HCl (for allergy attacks) \u201Cwasn\u2019t easy,\u201D Eisenberg said. \u201COur drugs aren\u2019t candy, it\u2019s really hard to mask the taste of medicine through micro-encapsulation.\u201D\nFollowing its launch in January, UrgentRx powders have been sold in 3,000 stores nationwide. The goal is to get them into 25,000 stores, including such major chains as CVS \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCVS\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t.\u00A0Each packet sells for a suggested retail price of $1.39.\nMORE:\u00A0Nobody needs an Apple iWatch\u2014or anything like it\nEisenberg, a double major in engineering and mathematics from Vanderbilt University, originally worked as an investment banker before taking a job with the noted inventor and patent-holder, Maurice Kanbar. Kanbar created Skyy Vodka and other well-known products.\u00A0\u201CI always thought I wanted to be a venture capitalist,\u201D says Eisenberg. \u201CI came to understand that entrepreneurship is a rare commodity, it\u2019s what I was meant to do.\u201D\nIn the process of trying to raise investment capital, a mutual acquaintance introduced him to Randall Kaplan, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and investor who was a co-founder of Akamai Technologies \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAKAM\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t.\nUrgentRx, with $5 million in funding, two years ago had a limited rollout to pharmacy chains and other retailers that sell remedies. \u201CWe made packaging and other changes,\u201D Eisenberg said. \u201CThe feedback was incredibly important.\u201D The company, which has eight employees, has just hired two vice presidents, one for sales and one for marketing.\nMORE:\u00A0How Rackspace is taking on Amazon now\nEisenberg\u2019s hook is the claim that the company&amp;#8217;s powdered aspirin, which it says acts faster than pills, has saved at least ten lives of people who swallowed UrgentRx when they were having a heart attack. Another plus, he says, is that the product is ideal for the estimated 6% of the population that is unable or has difficulty swallowing pills.\nAfter investing in UrgentRx and becoming the company\u2019s chairman, Kaplan is helping to raise another $2.5 million, which will be used in part to finance the marketing of the powders to more retailers. New investors include Sam Zell, the Chicago financier, actress Hillary Swank and Herb Simon, the shopping mall magnate.\nUrgentRx follows on the heels of innovative delivery systems for medicinal products and caffeine, such as Vitamin Water and 5-Hour Energy Drink. The investors are hoping the packets will become a staple of home medicine cabinets\u2014much like Alka Seltzer in the 1940s."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2013/03/20/urgentrx-is-reinventing-pills/?source=yahoo_quote>