Kick

Kick is a new approach to mental health that combines prescription medications with a mobile app to help people overcome fears and build confidence.

Kick is a new approach to mental health that combines prescription medications with a mobile app to help people overcome fears and build confidence.

Our mobile app targeting shyness and social confidence launched a month ago on Product Hunt, and was the 2nd most upvoted product of the day. We've since focused on the medication side, helping people access a class of prescription drugs called beta blockers that have been scientifically proven to help people with stagefright. Surveys show that more than one-third of world-class professional symphony musicians have used the drug to improve their performance during auditions or concerts. The drug has an extensive 50-year safety record - child psychiatrists even routinely prescribe it to 4-year-olds for severe separation anxiety.

Working with Stanford psychiatrists and psychologists, our first prescription drug product is a branded and custom re-formulation of this drug into a consumer-friendly, Altoid-like mint candy that is much more convenient and discreet than traditional pills or tablets. Unlike most psychiatric meds, it's also oanly taken as needed before stressful situations and isn't habit forming.

The combination of a prescription medicine with a supportive community mobile app is a novel approach. Recently published research studies mentioned in the New York Times and the New Republic show that this combination of beta blockers and behavioral exercises, which we supply through our mobile app, is highly effective in curing fears and anxieties.

Mental Healthcare is Scary, Stigmatized, and Inaccessible. 

In the US, treatment costs are $100 Billion annually. 1 in 4 people has a mental health issue, 1 in 5 people has anxiety.

There are three ways to address mental health today - psychology (therapy), psychiatry (pharmaceutical drugs), or self-help. Psychology is effective but expensive, time-consuming and stigmatized. Psychiatry is widespread (1 in 5 on psychiatric drugs) but there's an acute shortage, and many drugs don't work or have side effects. Self-help is easiest to start and has excellent branding, but is not actionable as 80% are repeat customers who haven't changed.

Published clinical research has shown that beta blockers in combination with exposure therapy are effective in treating phobias, PTSD, and OCD. The New York Times wrote an article about this research titled "A Drug To Cure Fear".  The New Republic also published a piece on the PTSD research entitled "The Cure For Fear".

The original study can be found on Pubmed here: "An Abrupt Transformation of Phobic Behavior After a Post-Retrieval Amnesic Agent."

Fear is one of the 6 basic emotions, so almost anyone can benefit from our solution. To be more specific, we'd like to see reductions in fear / increases in confidence via clinically validated measures, and a large number of people using our app.

Measure anxiety levels and confidence levels in-app with clinically-validated scales - Clinical reductions in fear / increases in confidence

Track downloads in iOS and Android stores + registrations in app - 1 million users

Kick is unique as it is the first mental health solution that combines therapeutic pharmaceutical drugs with a consumer facing mobile app. By integrating psychology, psychiatry, and the reach of self-help, we hope to scale and become the front-line treatment for all of mental health.

Fear is a one of the six basic and universal human emotions. We've decided our product to be much more accessible than traditional psychologists or psychiatrists.

By distributing via mobile app stores and the web, we have access to a global audience at lost cost.

We're in the process of closing a venture capital seed round.

There are regulatory and legal hurdles arounds easily prescribing prescription drugs to people through telemedicine. Though we believe we've overcome these and de-risked as much as possible, there is a chance that this might be an issue. Another issue is the willingness of consumers to use prescription drugs in combination with a mobile app.

https://angel.co/kick-health-1

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/kick

The potential to create awareness around our solution with leaders and changemakers is the main reason we're applying. There's also potential to run clinical studies and trials involving our offerings where we believe Solve could offer resources and expertise.

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