While allergies are common, anaphylaxis needs urgent treatment. Enter one young design engineer who saw this as a problem he could help solve
A severe allergic reaction experienced by Windlesham House Prep teacher Billie-Jo Button made national news last year. Thanks to prompt intervention from the school nurse, and equipment from Kitt Medical, she made a full recovery. As Head of Windlesham House Ben Evans noted afterwards, being prepared and trained for severe allergic reactions is vital for schools and all organisations.
Like so many brilliant ideas, Kitt Medical came about as a result of a problem that needed a solution. Founder and CEO Zak Marks knew all about the perils of anaphylaxis – he has a severe nut allergy first discovered at the age of five. In his final year of a design engineering degree at Loughborough in 2020, he set about creating something for public spaces that could save his or someone else’s life. As he described it: “just like a defibrillator, but for allergies”.
James Cohen became co-founder and COO in 2021 and together they piloted the Kitt Anaphylaxis Kitt through a handful of schools. Funding and professional partnerships followed, and by 2023 the Anaphylaxis Kitt service had been successfully launched. It is now found in over 400 schools and businesses – many independent schools have signed up.
How it works
Each Kitt is provided as part of a service, which means CPD training and restocking of adrenaline pens before expiry or after use. Having an adrenaline pen to hand that is in date is a critical issue, say the team at Kitt Medical, pointing to studies showing that over half of severe allergy sufferers are carrying out-of-date pens or have forgotten to carry their pens with them.
Bearing in mind that it’s estimated that two children in every classroom will have an allergy – and that around a fifth of anaphylaxis cases in UK schools will be first-time incidents, meaning no pen – reliable equipment and the knowhow to assist are critical.
Each Kitt has auto-injectors containing different amounts of adrenaline – under 150mcg for children under a certain age and weight and 300mcg for most others. The training gives full guidance on how to inject and other emergency procedures to follow. There’s an online portal so schools and businesses can report incidents afterwards (which means the Kitt will be restocked). While it is stowed in an easily visible and accessible location, just like a defibrillator, a Kitt is portable, so can be taken to the patient.
The Kitt’s usefulness has been recognised with both a London Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award and a Santander X Launch award, both in 2022. When he won the mayoral award, Zak Marks noted: “Even though I carry two adrenaline auto-injectors with me wherever I go, I’m still terrified that one day the worst might happen to me. I often thought that I wished they had the equipment where I was going – but they can’t just have this stuff lying around, going out-of-date, and with nobody knowing how to use it.”
With a Kitt on the wall, both anaphylaxis training and in-date adrenaline pens are problems solved.
Kitt Medical kittmedical.com
Further reading: Bedford School on tomorrow’s entrepreneurs
You may also like...
