Orexo and Lyfebulb Announce the Finalists and Jury for the 2020 Innovation Challenge in Substance Use Disorders

UPPSALA, Sweden and NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Orexo, a Swedish pharmaceutical company focused on improved pharmaceuticals and digital therapies, and Lyfebulb, a patient empowerment platform, announced the 10 Patient Entrepreneurs selected as finalists for the Lyfebulb and Orexo Innovation Challenge in substance use disorders. Motivated by personal connections to addiction and co-morbidities, the following finalists represent companies with unique solutions that address unmet needs afflicting patients and support partners in the recovery journey:

• Marisa Barbieri, CEO and Digital Health Solutions Architect at Competitive Solutions
• Rohan Dixit, Founder and CEO at Lief Therapeutics
• Richard Hanbury, Founder and CEO at Sana Health
• Shay House, Co-Founder and CEO at youturn
• Lucinda Koza, Founder and CEO at I Ally
• Beau Mann, Founder and CEO at Sober Grid
• Tyler Matheny, Co-Founder and CEO at YANA
• Swatee Surve, Founder and CEO at Litesprite
• Mehran Talebinejad, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO at NeuroQore
• Holly Whitaker, Founder and CEO at The Tempest

Finalists will pitch their business solutions during the two-day virtual summit on October 14-15, 2020 to an expert panel of judges who represent various facets of the healthcare industry and patient community to assess each solution through a unique lens. The judging panel will include:

• David Hunt, Chief Digital Officer at Havas Health & You
• Geri-Lynn Utter, PsyD, Medical Science Liaison at Orexo Pharmaceuticals
• Kajsa Gatenbeck, Investment Manager at Schibsted Growth
• Lisa Smith, Author and Principal at Lisa Smith Advisory
• Philip Rutherford, Chief Operating Officer of Faces & Voices of Recovery

The judging panel will select one winner to receive a $25,000 monetary grant to further the development of their business concept.

"Our hope with this Innovation Challenge is to become one step closer towards eliminating any and all burdens individuals may face when pursuing, maintaining or supporting a loved one's recovery." said Dr. Karin Hehenberger, CEO and Founder of Lyfebulb. "Our timely partnership with Orexo has shed light upon the many unfortunate challenges people still face today, but it also signals the opportunity to respond to those challenges through new innovations. We applaud each entrepreneur's effort in solving for these unmet needs and look forward to the opportunity of making a lasting impact on the community."

"We are incredibly pleased by the response to the innovation summit initiative and appreciate the engagement manifested the entrepreneurs, who have invested significant time and effort into the program." said Mikaela Odlander, Director of Digital Therapeutics at Orexo. "We look forward to meeting with the finalists and to continuing our dialogue with this highly diverse set of companies, with a view to support innovative approaches to address the growing issue of substance use disorder."

More information about the challenge may be found on Lyfebulb's website at https://lyfebulb.com/innovation-award/orexo-2020.

About Orexo DTx

Orexo DTx is the digital health arm of Orexo AB, a pharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes improved pharmaceuticals and digital therapies. The company addresses unmet needs mainly within the growing space of addiction. Orexo DTx was created in Q4 of 2019 and currently has three products in the pipeline, vorvida® for alcohol misuse, deprexis® for depression, and OXD01 for opioid use disorder, all in partnership with the GAIA group.

Orexo DTx's mission is to redefine treatment of addiction by offering clinically validated digital therapeutics to ensure more successful treatment for patients and cost-effective solutions for payers. The digital products will be commercialized by Orexo DTx worldwide, with the U.S. as the principal market, where Orexo also commercializes its lead product Zubsolv® (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual tablets (CIII) for treatment of opioid use disorder.

Orexo is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap (ORX) and is available as ADRs on OTCQX (ORXOY) in the U.S. The company is headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, where research and development activities are performed. For more information about Orexo please visit, www.orexo.com. You can also follow Orexo on Twitter, @orexoabpubl, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Lyfebulb

Lyfebulb is a chronic disease-focused patient empowerment platform that connects patients and industry to support user-driven innovation. Grounded with its strong foundation in diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, mental health, addiction, migraine, transplantation, and chronic cough.

See www.lyfebulb.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Lyfebulb LinkedIn, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn. 

For more information:

Orexo Contact:

Mikaela Odlander
Director of Digital Therapeutics
Phone: + 46-187808802
Email: [email protected]

Lyfebulb Contact:

Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD
CEO & Founder, Lyfebulb
Phone: + 1-917-575-0210
Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Orexo