"What motivates me to back this is the idea that it can quickly turn into a socially impacting product for many, considering how this could fundamentally change the way 7 billion people take medicine, and everybody falls sick at some point. So, this is not just a particular demographic segment of society we’re talking about. This would be about everybody; this is for everybody."
Dr. Mohammad Waseem-ul-Islam (Former Advisor,
WHO, Mediterranean Region)
Conceptual design
What is a TONGUE COVER?
A cover for your tongue to protect it from bitter medicine.
The Tongue Cover is a patent-pending, revolutionary new product that acts as a disposable latex barrier between your tongue and bitter medicine. It covers & effectively protects your tongue from the bitter taste of the liquid medicine, health drinks, herbal teas, vitamin solutions, or even distasteful pills – all of which are imperative for your health, but whose taste, until now, was impossible to avoid.
Pre-production prototype
Solving the Bitter Medicine Problem
There’s no real substitute
Before now, there were hardly any options to shield yourself from the taste of bitter medicines or pills. There are ways for masking the taste or cleansing the palette after dosing, even though most people simply choose to drink water or other liquids to flush down the aftertaste of it.
Pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, have spent a lot of time & effort in making medicines more bearable by either sugar-coating pills, or mixing liquid medicines with more palatable solutions (like kids’ medicines or adult antibiotics). What they fail to do in the course of their multi-million-dollar research efforts is actually prevent you from tasting the medicine. Rather, these measures adversely increase the number of nonessential ingredients in your medicine.
How it works
The Indiegogo campaign video posted above shows the instructions very clearly (from 1:30 to 2:05) on how to use the product
From a functional standpoint, you can think of the Tongue Cover as a condom for the tongue.
Simply take the Tongue Cover and settle it on to your tongue, very much like the way you settle a “bubble gum” onto your tongue right before making a bubble. Then drink your medicine as usual. The salty, sweet and sour areas of your tongue that are most sensitive to the pungent, blended flavor of the medicine are covered, so it goes down easy. And you don’t have to worry about the aftertaste of the medicine either!
When you are done, simply remove and discard the Tongue Cover. We do not recommend reusing the Tongue Cover for hygiene and legal reasons.
Prototype usage demo from our supplier in China
Production challenges, Technical issues & Economic viability
It’s been a long year to get to this point. After going back and forth during technical consultations with well-respected polymer engineers in the industry as well as dentists and ENT specialists, we sorted out issues regarding the right material to be used in terms of oral usage, costs, moldability and of course, ease of availability.
Another ergonomic challenge was to make the Tongue Cover “easy to wear and discard”. Finally, finding the appropriate manufacturer with the right R&D facilities, hospital-grade standards of disinfection and requisite prototyping skills was imperative.
What we need to do now is raise sufficient funds to achieve economies of scale (by means of mass production), which is critical to the “physical distribution” component of our marketing plan.
Goal
A Tongue Cover with every bottle of medicine
With your help, our goal is to make Tongue Covers the standard. Once we begin retailing it in pharmacies, we expect eventually a few "pharmaceutical" manufacturers to get serious about it and start pre-packaging the Tongue Cover along with the bitter medicine bottles by default.
Target market
Pharmacies, Doctors’ offices, Hospitals and Distributors
We want to make Tongue Covers as accessible as condoms or band-aids, for example; make it ubiquitously available across pharmacies, doctors’ offices and hospitals. In order for the product to be as easily accessible, however, we need to raise funds sufficient enough to attain economic viability.
Perks
Every dollar counts
Right from the conceptual stage, we always knew that the key to the success of Tongue Cover would lie in mass user adoption, which can only be achieved with a realistically low price tag. We plan on selling Tongue Covers in pharmacies at prices similar to condoms, after the first production run. Moreover, once the pharmaceutical companies hop on the bandwagon, and begin considering it as a standard add-on for bitter medicines, the prices are only bound to further plummet.
Right now, we’re offering our friends on Indiegogo a purposefully wide range of perks that would cater to people of all segments. Whether you have a family member who has to endure medicinal teas or herbal solutions from time to time, or a friend who simply can’t stand drinking medicines or stinking pills, or if you’re a distributor who foresees market opportunity in Tongue Cover - our perks on offer cater to everyone.
FAQs
What is a Tongue Cover?
The Tongue Cover is a patent-pending, revolutionary new product that acts as a disposable latex barrier between your tongue and bitter medicine. It covers & effectively protects your tongue from the bitter taste of the liquid medicine, health drinks, herbal teas, vitamin solutions, or even distasteful pills – all of which are imperative for your health, but whose taste, until now, was impossible to avoid.
How does it work?
From a functional standpoint, you can think of the Tongue Cover as a “condom for the tongue”, since it works on a similar principle. It acts as a barrier between your tongue and unpleasant medicine, so you can take medicine without having to endure its bitter taste.
Is this a patent-pending product?
Yes.
When will the Tongue Cover be available?
Now that we have partnered with our supplier in China, we are currently raising money for our first production run. We plan to ship first batch of Tongue Covers in May 2013.
What is the Tongue Cover made of?
Latex.
I’m allergic to latex, will you make Tongue Covers of other materials?
We have considered alternative materials in addition to latex for later production iterations. If we are able to successfully raise the ideal amount of $125,000, we would place first priority on producing child-size Tongue Covers, and later diversify into alternative materials.
Is the Tongue Cover meant for disposable use?
Yes. We do not recommend reusing the Tongue Cover for hygiene and legal reasons.
How much will it cost?
Low unit price is our top priority, to achieve mass adoption. The Tongue Cover would retail in pharmacies at a price range similar to condoms.
Moreover, once the pharmaceutical companies join in and begin considering it as a standard add-on for bitter medicines, the prices are only bound to further plummet.
Does this cover the entire tongue? Will I still taste anything?
The Tongue Cover in itself is tasteless. But it does not shield the entire tongue per se. Covering the entire tongue is rather impractical, as the back extends into the throat.
The Tongue Cover shields your tongue from the visible portion of the tongue, i.e. taste buds that detect the sweet, sour, and salty taste of your drinks, thus leaving only the very back exposed. While you will still taste a tad as you swallow, the aftertaste of it would be DRASTICALLY reduced, making strong medicines much more palatable. Our prototyping tests show approximately 90% reduction in taste with usage of Tongue Cover.
Isn’t the “bitter” part of the tongue in the back, where the Tongue Cover leaves the tongue exposed?
Technically, that is correct. But you may be surprised to learn that medicines are not necessarily “bitter” per se. That is not what makes their taste so unbearable. Rather, it is the blended flavor of sweet, sour and/or salty ingredients of the medicine that makes it “pungent” in taste, which is exactly what the Tongue Cover protects you from.
Does the Tongue Cover come in kids’ or teen sizes?
Not presently. The first production run is only for adult-sized tongue covers (18 years and above).
Children tongue sizes vary drastically with age, which poses a standardization problem, thus requiring larger investment. We do, however, realize the importance of child-sized Tongue Cover market (for parents & pediatricians), and it remains one of our top priorities after the initial production run of adult-sized Tongue Covers.
Are there any similar products presently available in the market?
Before now, there were hardly any options available to shield yourself from the taste of bitter medication. And there was certainly nothing like the Tongue Cover. This is a patent-pending product.
What are your future plans?
Our biggest priority remains low unit cost, which can only be achieved by mass producing the product, promoting it and making it widely available. Once we are able to successfully raise funds for our first production run, our prime focus will be on popularizing adult-sized tongue covers. We then plan to introduce teen-sized and eventually child-sized tongue covers, which also opens up a whole new potential market of flavored tongue covers.
Do you have a website?
Yes, you may visit us at www.tonguecover.com Please note that you can only pre-order the product from our Indiegogo campaign page (See perks).
I’m interested in becoming a distributor? What should I do?
We have included a range of wholesale-priced distributor packs of Tongue Cover in the listed perks, so you can test market our product. For any other queries, you may contact us at sales@tonguecover.com
What are the shipping costs?
Shipping to US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand is free and included in the perks. We cannot ship to countries that restrict trade due to war, sanctions or legal reasons. Please contact us at sales@tonguecover.com for any other shipping queries.
Background
About the inventor, and the idea
After having graduated M.B.A. (Masters in Business Administration) in International Business in 2009 in Phoenix, AZ, I was awarded the D.M.D. honor title (Delta Mu Delta), for academic excellence – the highest national academic recognition for a business administration student in the United States. I was then inducted as a “lifetime member” of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. I completed BS in Business (Marketing) back in 2006, and was awarded the M.K.T. honor title (Mu Kappa Tau) – the only marketing honor title for an undergraduate business administration student in the United States. Although I was offered a scholarship to pursue a PhD program, I decided instead to opt for the entrepreneurial route, and flew down to Dubai, U.A.E. which is where my parents have long resided.
The idea came to life when my father (a scientist) took particular interest during a discussion of “problem-solving” inventions while attending a related seminar. While the media and tech fans usually focus more on incremental changes for the relatively newer technological inventions, I have always been an ardent supporter of bringing attention toward changes in those fields that still operate pretty much the same way they did during our great grandparents’ time. The “Tongue Cover” falls in the latter category. Between him being a scientist and me being a marketing-oriented entrepreneur, we then decided to embark upon the possibility of having this concept turn into reality.
While we’ve stated $70,000 as our minimum target amount, we are ideally looking to raise $125,000 to achieve true economies of scale.
Thank you for checking out our Indiegogo campaign. Please select a perk to pre-order Tongue Covers for your friends, family and try it out yourself. You can further help us by sharing our campaign link with whosoever you think may find it of particular benefit. Click this link to SHARE - http://igg.me/p/308748/x/2045669