Skip to content
Surprising Science

Can Taking Care of Your Health Be…Entertaining?

A new business venture aims to simplify what it calls a bloated and confusing pharmaceutical industry by selling low-dose over-the-counter medicine packets for problems like headaches and insomnia. 
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

What’s the Latest Development?


A pair of entrepreneurs are offering a new way to tackle over-the-counter health concerns with an eye toward simplifying how people take care of their own health. Co-founders of the start up Health Remedies, Richard Fine and Nathan Frank sell minimalist white packets directed at single medical issues like nausea, headache or insomnia. “We want people to see that there are simple solutions,” said Mr. Fine, who said his straightforward approach was influenced by his parents, who are medical professors specializing in epidemiology.

What’s the Big Idea?

Health Remedies picks up where, according to its founders, a bloated pharmaceutical industry has confused patients with its myriad products. “‘We wanted to take what’s basic and works, and make it human,’ Mr. Fine said. Their strategy of providing single ingredients in low dosages is aimed at basic medical conditions that do not require hospitalization.” But while the business venture may prove a financial success, it is unclear how the company’s novel products will simplify a person’s choice rather than adding one more option to a list of possible treatments. 

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related

Up Next