SafeStamp®

SafeStamp® combats global pharmaceutical counterfeiting, which kills a million people a year. Children and women face the biggest risk as prenatal products and infant medications are most targeted. SafeStamp® is an interactive anti-counterfeit indicator for product packaging. Our indicator employs sophisticated nanotechnology, based on new quantum science, making it difficult to replicate. Consumers can instantly authenticate their medicines based on the indicator’s glow upon touching or blowing. SafeStamp® can be printed on transparent plastic “shrink-wrap” or on adhesives. Scaled globally, it would save a million lives annually, improve the health of millions more, protect industries in developing countries, and extinguish income for criminal organizations. SafeStamp® will accomplish these goals by selling branded, globally recognized authentication labels directly to pharmaceutical firms and lateral industries to recapture lost sales. During COVID-19, SafeStamp® becomes even more important: 75% of counterfeit medicine deaths are from fake vaccines. 

In a single year, over a million people will die from counterfeit medicines, which often contain carcinogens, rat poison, or floor wax. 250,000 of those killed are children. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of medicines globally are counterfeit. In developing countries plagued by weak supply chains, such counterfeit medicines dominate, comprising 30-90% of the market. Pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become one of the most profitable operations for organized crime groups, with an annual revenue of $200 billion reinvested in terrorism, dealing drugs, and human trafficking. These criminal schemes corrupt public authorities, law enforcement, and politicians, crippling the governments of developing countries while robbing desperate consumers of their income and their health. For drug developers, financial losses to counterfeiting come at the expense of 750,000 jobs and product development. Growth rates for counterfeit sales outpace those for legitimate drugs by over 20%, and counterfeiters are increasingly copying drugs for life-threatening diseases. SafeStamp® allows consumers to verify the legitimacy of their medicine. Such protection will ultimately improve healthcare access, return profits to be reinvested in research and development, starve criminal operations of revenue, protect local industries thus driving economic growth, and save 1,000,000 lives annually. 

SafeStamp® harnesses sophisticated quantum nanotechnology to create an easy-to-use and hard-to-replicate indicator. Credible, legitimate manufacturers can place SafeStamp® onto their product to signify that it is genuine, allowing customers to instantly authenticate their medicine by interacting with the indicator. SafeStamp® will be printed onto an adhesive, and then shipped to our clients to be placed on their packaging. This would allow SafeStamp® to be integrated seamlessly to their existing supply chains. It can also be printed on transparent plastic enveloping the product. 

To test the authenticity, consumers will breathe on the SafeStamp®, turning it orange, then touch the SafeStamp®, turning it blue. SafeStamp® can easily be manufactured in bulk given its small size and mass at a rate of millions of units daily. SafeStamp® has been shown to retain functionality after tens-of-thousands of uses. Manufacturers do not have to understand the underlying science behind SafeStamp®; the product works with their preexisting PP&E—all they need to do is buy and apply. 

SafeStamp® allows consumers themselves to test the authenticity of their drug, creating a pull-factor that will allow pharmaceutical firms to capture back lost sales and reputation from counterfeit medicines.

Our core focus is fighting counterfeit pharmaceuticals, serving the entire drug market first in the US and Canada, then to the rest of the world where the counterfeiting crisis is more critical. Medication is taken when people are most vulnerable: it is vital they ingest a legitimate and trusted drug. SafeStamp® can ensure the sick receive the treatment they need to improve their health. Currently, SafeStamp® is partnering with US corporations, but we have plans to expand and meaningfully interact with companies around the world. We currently have a solidified deal with the government of Ghana, which plans on using our indicator on a multitude of products in various industries. SafeStamp® will combat the counterfeiting epidemic in Ghana, which is crippling business growth and manufacturing profits: the government estimates 70% of electric wiring, 90% of cosmetics, and 100% of HP printer cartridges are fake. We have met with Ghana’s Vice President to discuss how we can meet their needs. One of our core values is customer centricity; we ensure the user-interface, processing procedures, and distribution fits the individualized needs of each customer. 

Secure healthcare requires authentic drugs, which SafeStamp® guarantees. Specifically, as communities worldwide respond to COVID-19, there is an urgent need to produce vaccines and diagnostic tests. Both are subject to expedited approval, manufacturing, and distribution, providing opportunities for counterfeiters. SafeStamp® can ensure that the vaccines and test kits on the market are legitimate. SafeStamp® is a long-term solution that will strengthen people’s access to legitimate healthcare, improving healthcare supply chains by reducing the production of counterfeit products. SafeStamp® can mitigate future health security threats and stop the spread of coronavirus by ensuring that everyone receives authentic testing, medications, and vaccines.

Many competitors’ solutions to drug counterfeiting damningly cannot be verified by the end-user. Avery and GS1 have implemented RFID-enabled track-and-trace systems that monitor a drug’s journey from manufacturing through final sale. Such solutions fail conceptually when distributors do not purchase authentic drugs initially. 

TruTag and Applied DNA Sciences have advanced covert authentication devices, such as unique DNA-based molecular tags inlaid on pills. While secure, this requires costly and disruptive manufacturing alterations. Moreover, these techniques, along with track-and-trace, are inherently limited because authentication is only verified up to the final distributor—not the consumer, who faces the greatest risk if the product is counterfeit and who is not susceptible to corruption or perverse incentives.

A better approach is to enable consumers to authenticate the product. Yet innovation in overt authentication devices has become detached from the end-user. Holographic stickers from industry leaders 3M and De La Rue are unverifiable for the end-user without the usage of non-consumer products like spectrometers, or training on how to spot the near-indistinguishable differences between inauthentic and authentic holograms—rendering verifiability inaccessible in countries most affected by counterfeiting. 

Competing solutions are either too simple, and consequently easily duplicated by counterfeiters, or too complex such that the end-user cannot verify them. SafeStamp Inc. uniquely manages to solve both problems: implement an unreplicable quantum nanotechnology designed to be authenticated effortlessly by any end-user.

SafeStamp® is a nanopolymer that functions as an ink. Our product is based on a new quantum discovery related to triboluminescence — the optical phenomenon in which light is generated when certain materials experience mechanical force, driven by the movement of static electrical charges. We have developed a nanoparticle that will emit light under a significantly lower threshold of mechanical force than previously possible, making it capable of luminescence with only the press of a finger. Furthermore, we are able to tune the color and intensity of light that we wish to emit.

A primary advantage of these thermochromic inks is the difficulty to replicate them: multiple factors make this process notably difficult. First, each component of the ink requires multi-step synthetic processes, where even slight deviations from the developed recipes results in a completely non-functional product. Second, there are components in these inks where even the fundamental physical mechanism underlying their optical behavior is poorly understood by the scientific community, making it extremely difficult for a counterfeiter to rationally design their own ink with similar properties (rational design guidelines do not exist). Third, many of the components of these inks are not available commercially through chemical distributors, and the few components that do have prohibitive prices would make the individual component itself more expensive than the medicine being counterfeited. The combination of fundamental scientific confusion, difficult synthesis, and lack of commercial substitutes makes the developed inks exceedingly difficult to counterfeit. 

While triboluminescence (TL) has been observed in a variety of materials, its underlying mechanism is not well-understood. Hence, people have not been able to tune light intensity and color at a sufficient level to be used in anti-counterfeiting. The development of our unique technology which overcomes this shortcoming is led by Dr. Felts and his lab at Texas A&M. There is no publicly available evidence of the technology due to our trade secrets and there is no evidence that other companies have discovered the underlying mechanism of TL as we have. 

However, others have investigated using different TL materials for stress sensors, light sources and displays, and bio-imaging. For example, EuD4TEA has been proven to emit light when mechanically stimulated, enabling its production as a sensor to detect fracture from mechanical stress and emit light accordingly.  Additionally, elastic TL materials, with non-destructive characteristics, have been discovered, which are bright and durable throughout repeated use. Luminescent signals have been studied from ZnS:Cu, which can be assembled into fabrics for imaging, and flexible ZnS:Mn composites, which can be used to sense applied pressures. While these materials display the promising luminescent properties of TL, they are still not widely used or understood, nor can they be easily altered to meet the requirements for a sensitive and bright anti-counterfeit indicator. Our nanoparticle, however, is able to undergo these transformations. We have a working lab that has a video for proof of concept and a patent.

Current measures addressing the counterfeiting crisis have failed. Track and trace systems neglect to account for suppliers who purchase counterfeited products in the first place (Thiesse 2005). Meanwhile, all end-user verification technologies on the market have already been counterfeited (Stavrou 2014).

We aim to start a revolution, and we believe in the people. To quote Mao “The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; only mobilizing the masses and relying on them can wage it”—that is why we created a product with design in mind. Our product engages end-users—it is fun to interact with something and make it glow—and it is accessible to all types of people, as all it requires is a breath and a press. We have conducted numerous focus groups, several with over 200 participants, from nations around the world to test the universality of our indicator. All results have been positive.

We also believe in technology. Our solution is completely unique, addressing all disadvantages present from the current technology. Our unreplicable complex nanotechnology is extremely simple to use, yet can have an enormous impact on stopping counterfeits from being sold and consumed. We can ensure that people are buying and using legitimate medications, which will ultimately save millions of lives (WHO). We also have powerful institutions and big pharma on our side, further proving that we have the capability to make a large-scale change in the pharmaceutical industry. SafeStamp® is a new technology that can fundamentally change health care, preventing future illnesses by authenticating the products put on the market. 

We currently do not serve anyone as we have not gone to market. However, we are projecting to serve 5 million in one year and 1 billion in 5 years. 

SafeStamp’s goal within the next year is to successfully come to market and be used for COVID-19 vaccines and medications. We then plan on being integrated with other medicinal products. Within the next five years, SafeStamp® will be used on a variety of products, including consumer electronics, luxury goods, cosmetics, sporting goods, beverages, and others. Over this time, our anti-counterfeit indicator will save millions of lives by ending pharmaceutical counterfeiting. 

Millions of people around the world will have the opportunity to take legitimate medications that can actually improve their health. By serving other products, this will change the world in two ways: 

1) it will allow us to serve low-margin drugs at a loss and completely eliminate pharmaceutical counterfeiting, thereby saving a million lives a year, improving the health of millions more, and stimulating emerging economies, and 

2) exhibit that social impact companies can yield substantial profits, and create a rush in which the best minds go into social impact (like Facebook did for driving the best minds into social media).

We have to comply with FDA regulations mandating we do not cover-up writing on medicine packaging, which we do easily. 

Regarding SafeStamp’s financial barriers, the most prominent one within the next year is access to financing. Considering that SafeStamp® is not yet generating revenue because its product is still in the lab, its sources of funding come from external financing. Since we are pre-revenue, investors need to assume a higher degree of risk. Customers have shown overwhelming interest: we have pre-sales and letters of intent. Until we are ready to serve these customers, we have to “keep the lights on” with grant money and other financing. Once we go to market, financing will no longer be an issue (we have future funding rounds essentially subscribed). 

Our indicator is legally protected, with patents pending in over 60 countries. It was built by the best minds in design (we have won awards recognizing it for excellence in design thinking) and marketing (we worked with some of the foremost marketing minds at the Wharton school) to be culturally universal. As for market and regulatory barriers, we actually benefit from regulatory incentives, as many countries are mandating anti-counterfeit technology on medicine and other goods. The government of Ghana is explicitly pushing our product onto its industries.

With more funding, we can tangibly scale our company and establish us firmly on our path to profitability. One way that SafeStamp® is overcoming its difficulty in accessing financing is by securing pre-orders and getting LOIs from companies. Doing so will allow us to substantiate our claims to investors, who can be more confident in a high return on investment. 

Additionally, SafeStamp® is a small business and is focused on social impact, so there are many grant opportunities. SafeStamp® has brought in interns from the top universities and allocated other resources to assist in applying for various grants. 

Finally, the founders are funding, with the CEO having liquidated his assets, the Production Engineer invested a quarter million dollars of his own money, and most of the core team working only for equity.

Core team: 5

Advisor team: 5

Analysts: 35

Many external partners and independent contractors.

The SafeStamp Inc. team is made up of some of the brightest minds that can unequivocally design and establish the innovative and advanced SafeStamp® product, and contains both the passion and experience necessary to bring it to market. 

Matt McGuire, the founder and CEO, learned about counterfeit drugs while deployed in Iraq as an analyst for elite military special operations and while attending Wharton MBA. He has spent the past 6 years formulating SafeStamp®. 

Mike Wang is the Production Engineer. Mike has an ME in Biotechnology from University of Pennsylvania and vast experience in business development, pharma venture capital, and lab research, endowing him with the necessary skills to develop and perfect the product. 

Gordon Phillips assists SafeStamp, Inc. with industry and finance given his background in Wharton’s Health Care Program, Raymond James HealthCare Investment Banking, and Wall Street. 

Dr. Jonathan Felts is the head of science and production. He is a National Academy of Science Fellow, Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellow, Eugene and Lina Abraham Fellow, the Head of Advanced NanoManufacturing Lab, and has  over 50 publications on nanotechnology and scalable nanomanufacturing.

The core team is completed with William Sutton, who, at 76 years young, has a proven record of bringing biomedical and pharma products to market (see link in presentation). 

Together, this team will create the complex product and bring it to market, enabling its use worldwide. 

Counterfeiting in Ghana is a growing epidemic that is hampering business growth and profits for many companies in manufacturing. SafeStamp® will be an industry leader in combating this problem. SafeStamp® has met with the Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Vice President of Ghana who are now encouraging nationwide adoption of SafeStamp® in Ghana. GSA is actively engaging government stakeholders including the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, and the Ghana Revenue Authority to formalize stakeholder alignment on SafeStamp® adoption and creating government policy to support wide adoption. 

SafeStamp® is working with the West Africa Investment Trade Hub to network with more nations that need healthcare security. 

We are also partnered with See ID, which offers the most advanced geospatial technology for unparalleled supply chain localization accuracy. Their system simplifies SafeStamp’s inventory management and tracks items of interest with a bread crumb history. This will ensure that counterfeiters will not intercept products with our authentic labels.

SafeStamp’s business model is to gain revenue and create a positive impact by selling a globally recognized nanotech authentication indicator. We sell directly to pharmaceutical companies, who will protect their medicines with our indicator which allows patients to verify the authenticity of their drugs. Such protection will force retailers to order authentic medications, ultimately recapturing the $200 billion in annual revenue that pharmaceutical firms lose. SafeStamp’s research arm has discovered a new property of quantum science and has commercialized it to create an anti-counterfeiting solution that can be used in a plethora of industries—the first we are targeting is the pharmaceutical industry. We will provide the nanotech indicators in bulk purchase orders to pharmaceutical firms, providing value through brand protection and customer safety protections.

SafeStamp’s product aspires to incredible social impact. We are directly saving the lives of the one million people that die annually due to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and the countless more who are affected by fake drugs and medical treatments. We are adding a level of trust and accountability to the pharmaceutical industry that benefits all parties involved. Customers will be able to discern the correct drugs from the fake ones, retailers will be able to provide only the best products, and pharmaceutical firms will be able to reclaim the hundreds of billions of dollars that are lost to criminal counterfeiting activity.

The path to financial sustainability is crystal-clear for SafeStamp®. Previously, we have raised a partial pre-seed round through SAFEs and other investors, altogether totalling to over $500,000. As we currently seek venture capital investment money, we are sourcing capital from government grants (NSF, SBIR, COVID-19-related, etc.) and through innovation competitions. Aside from our capital raising efforts, we will bring in money to scale our company and achieve our mission through a sales-based revenue model, in which we will sell purchase orders of stamps to other businesses and governments. The sale-based model has a clear path to profitability, with evidence-based, conservative projections of almost $2mm in Year 1, $30mm in Year 2, and $60mm in Year 3. These are conservative estimates as they only consider revenue from the pharmaceutical industry. Ultimately, the financial possibilities are endless for SafeStamp Inc., as its product can be applied to nearly any industry with a counterfeiting problem: the 2020 market value of anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies in global pharmaceutical industries is $135.7bn. Additionally, in 2020 there is about $1620bn in market value of counterfeited goods, with about $200bn in the pharmaceutical industry alone. The market for SafeStamp Inc. is huge and the path to financial sustainability is direct, as we have a simple business model that will be intrinsically stable. This includes collecting payment upfront and placing orders to third-party manufacturers. 

The mission of the Health Security and Pandemics Challenge aligns with our goals. We recognize the urgency to prevent counterfeiting that will come with the addition of the coronavirus vaccine on the market. MIT Solve can help us navigate these systems through partnerships and specialized mentorship in the network. The financial support of this grant will allow us to establish more profitability for investors, as the access to financing is listed as one of our major barriers. Another advantage to MIT Solve would be to help us improve our business model to provide a bigger impact. Our corporate culture is one of excellence, innovation, and a little bit of mischief (you have to have fun when you are taking on a dangerous group of folks like we are). Our culture aligns with that of MIT: world class scientific advancement for social impact, sprinkled in with clever pranks. 

For talent recruitment, we would need to hire a head of sales with experience not only in contract writing, but also for the arrangement of the best prices available. For legal matters, we would need to put forward additional global patents; additionally, we need financing to ensure that patents we’ve made get through. For monitoring and evaluation, we would need to monitor any third-party manufacturers (who will soon be filling our pre-orders) as well as the social impact of our product. 

We would like to partner with angel investors to bolster the image and scalability of the company. Astrazeneca would also be a huge asset to collaborate with as they have just put a billion dollars into a COVID-19 vaccine. Having the SafeStamp® indicator would help ensure that their vaccine, which has huge scope for social impact in the current environment, is authentic and reliable. Partnering with this company would allow SafeStamp® to help eradicate the virus, as people will be taking the legitimate medications needed to stop COVID-19, as well as helping SafeStamp® become a globally recognized authentication label. We would also like to partner with large pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer, Roche, and Merck (we are already talking to Johnson & Johnson) to ensure that all medications, beyond just COVID-19 vaccines, can be authenticated, influencing these corporations to brand against counterfeiting. Partnering with foreign third-world countries would also allow our company to achieve our mission of saving millions of lives, where this crisis is most critical. To achieve this last goal, partnering with Partners in Health would help with the obtaining of resources and logistics to reach out to these countries which are usually rampant with corruption. 

Each year, one million lives are lost from counterfeit pharmaceuticals. That number will only continue to grow. SafeStamp® is both a scalable, for-profit solution to this global challenge. Our nanotech, once distributed to pharmaceutical retailers and placed on their packaging, will save these lives and create a level of trust and accountability that is hard to establish. This prize would greatly aid in our process of going to market as we have pre-orders we need financing to fill. We have everything in place to change the world, and an additional $200,000 in financing would accelerate the process of us doing so. Attached below is an example of a partnership that we have established.